Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law slams Kanye West for using the dead singer's drug-covered bathroom photo as album art
Whitney Houston’s family is not pleased with Kanye West for licensing a photo of the late singer’s drug-strewn dirty bathroom for the cover of Pusha T’s latest album 'DAYTONA', which dropped late last month via Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music label.
During a press conference for the upcoming documentary 'Whitney' at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills on Monday (June 25), Whitney Houston sister-in-law Pat Houston, who is also an executive producer of the documentary, expressed her disappointment to reporters. “We’re disappointed, but even in Whitney’s death, no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world. It’s not the first time the picture has been shown. It’s insane.”
As US Weekly points out, Director Kevin Macdonald echoed the same sentiment, “To me, I thought it was very insensitive. And then I wonder, ‘OK, did that have anything [to do with] the film coming out?’ You know, all of this is happening at the same time. … The other side of it is, though, even in its negativity … people are so obsessed and affected by that image. [It] is a huge power for people, and they’re using it very much for a shock value, superficial shock value, but it does speak to the way in which Whitney and her death are so much a part of popular culture.”
As we reported earlier in May, just hours before the launch of Pusha's highly-acclaimed 'DAYTONA', Kanye pulled the original artwork saying he "wasn't feeling it". Yeezus went on to replace the album art with the now controversial picture of Whitney Houston's drug-strewn bathroom, paying $85,000 to obtain the image, which originally appeared on a cover of the National Enquirer in 2006.
“This is what people need to see to go along with this music,” Kanye told Pusha at the time, substantiating the sudden change.
This isn't the first time Kanye has been slammed by Houston's family for the stunt. The photo, which shows drugs and paraphernalia on the counter in Whitney’s bathroom was secretly photographed by Tina Brown, the sister of the music legend’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown. Late May, Brown spoke out strongly against the use of the photo.
“Why would he post that on his album cover? That’s really disgusting that he would do that. That’s in really bad taste,” the former New Edition singer said in May. “Something should happen to Kanye … He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.
Houston's cousin Damon Elliott also slammed Kanye at the time. “I was actually in shock because I’m in the music business,” Elliot said in an interview with People. “I’ve watched the train wreck happening, but I didn’t think he’d go this far in invading someone’s family privacy," he added, referring to Kanye's meltdown from a couple of years ago.
“To do something like this for publicity to sell records, it’s absolutely disgusting,” he continued. “It hurt my family and my daughter. It’s petty. It’s tacky.”
“What were you thinking? Did you think this through? And if you did, why did you do this?” he said. “Because you’re hurting people. It knocked the wind out of me last night. When someone passes, you try to mourn and move on and remember the good times. Why are you going to pay $85,000 to bring something to the forefront?”
The 'I Will Always Love You' singer died at the age of 48 in February 2012 after accidentally drowning in a bathtub. Heart disease and cocaine abuse were contributing factors in her death.
Meanwhile, Kanye has said nothing of the issue so far. But he was the subject of an elaborate interview by NYT in which he explained his comments on 'slavery being a choice' from his controversial interview and accidentally crowned Drake the No 1 rapper of the time.