Is Kanye West friends with Ian Connor? Rapper gives out WLM shirts to homeless with accused serial rapist
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kanye West's team distributed shirts with the words 'White Lives Matter' to homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row on Sunday October 16. Ian Connor, a stylist and associate of West, posted a video of the incident.
In the video, a voice can be heard in the background stating “courtesy of Kanye West." Connor has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. In 2016, Malika Anderson, who was 23 at the time, shared a lengthy blog detailing the horrific experience she had with him. She titled her post, “Ian Connor Is a Rapist, and I Know Firsthand.”
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Meanwhile, West has been embroiled in a controversy after he wore a sweatshirt with the said slogan at the Balenciaga show in Paris Fashion Week show on October 3. He wrote in his Instagram Stories that the Black Lives Matter movement “was a scam”, adding, “Now it’s over…you’re welcome”.
According to the Rolling Stone, the phrase, a counter to the Black Lives Matter slogan, has been used by white supremacist organisations and is categorised by the Anti-Defamation League as a hate slogan.
As per the outlet, a source said that there were plans for a second round of free handouts. This comes after Dov Charney, owner of Los Angeles Apparel, refused to release the shirts that were manufactured by his company following West’s antisemitic posts.
Connor has teamed up with West in the past. He also described himself on Twitter as the "creative director" of a shirt that shows Muhammad Ali fighting Superman, with West as Ali and Supreme creative director Tremaine Emory as Superman.
A screenshot of the conversation between him and West was posted by Connor, in response to the shirt. The rapper wrote, “Love love this.”
Connor had earlier served as a consultant for the Yeezy brand but in June 2016, rapper Theophilus London claimed West had fired Connor after the sexual assault allegations, as well as comments made by Amber Rose to The Daily Beast that many women had reached out to her privately about Connor, which he denied.
Speaking to Broadly, Connor said, "I want to sue Amber but I'm not. She's deforming my character. I'm being accused of rape, and I would never rape anyone. "
However, Connor's own social media posts have done more harm. On January 23, 2013, in a now deleted tweet, he wrote, "If I Eat You Out or Buy You Something You Have No Choice but to Fuck Me. I'm As Serious As Can Be With this One."
While speaking to the outlet, Connor said, "I'm not excusing those tweets. But they are from a long time ago. At the end of the day, how many rappers rap about killing people or selling drugs but have never even picked up a pistol or seen crack in real life? It's for retweets, for attention, and that's back when I was younger before I had a platform. It was just stupid s**t."
He added, “I do not condone rape and I have never raped anyone. Why force somebody to do something they don’t want to do? Any forced situation is not cool.”