Rapper Kanye West recently came under fire for reportedly demanding the audience at his concert at the Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney, Australia, to stand up, and singling out those who wouldn’t- even the people in wheelchairs.
Now, West is firing back about the incident saying that the press was trying to “demonize” him.
“This is such big media-press-news and everything that obviously they trying to demonize me for,” West said.
“It’s like, ‘Welcome to today’s news, ladies and gentlemen,’” he added. “We’ve got Americans getting killed on TV, kids getting killed every weekend in Chicago, unarmed people getting killed by police officers…It makes you just want to reflect on what are the things that are a little bit more sensationalized than others.”
The controversy started after West requested that the audience stand while he performed one of his songs. When all but two people were standing, he asked what was wrong with them and if they had a disability. West would not continue with his concert until he had confirmation that the two individuals were disabled.
“I’ve decided, I can’t do this song, I can’t do the rest of this show until everybody stands up,” West said. “No, seriously — I won’t go on with the show unless y’all stand up.”
West said he believes that the media is trying to make this situation all negative, when he really just wanted his fans to have the best time possible.
“They’ve got this thing where they want the masses, the people who’ve never even heard one of my albums, to somehow read a headline that reads negative and to think that I’m a bad person. But the thing is … I’m a married Christian man with a family,” West continued. “At my concerts, I make sure everybody has as good a time as possible. So all this demonizing me, it ain’t going to work after a while. Pick a new target, because I’m not one of these dumba** artists that you’re used to.”