D.L. Hughley on Kanye West: ‘We Have a Cult of Celebrity That Enables Behavior Like That’
Actor and comedian D.L. Hughley is no stranger to criticizing rapper Kanye West. After West’s recent behavior, Hughley spoke about him in a recent appearance on the CBS daytime talk show, The Talk.
D.L. Hughley has called out Kanye West before
The last time Hughley made public statements about West, he was calling out his Sunday Service events and gospel album as a marketing scheme targeting the Black community. Both Sunday Service and West’s pivot to gospel came as he garnered a lot of controversy from his Black fans for his support of Donald Trump and wearing a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat. He notable called West “morally bankrupt.” It all began with West’s comments about slavery being a choice for the descendants of Africans who were enslaved in the United States.
“He’s a tremendously talented dude but a morally bankrupt human being,” said Hugley in an interview with Vlad TV. “When albums didn’t sell, this n***a sold God to n***as,” he continued, talking about West trying to target Black Christians with his then-new albums.
Hughley is also not the only celebrity to call West out for trying to appeal to Christians in an inauthentic way. Singer and actor Tyrese once said, “I’ll never forget when they said when the world turns their back on you, meaning Black people, all you gotta do is talk about Jesus, and you’ll get whatever you want. They’ll go from turning their back on you to rocking with you again. You just gotta heavily talk about Jesus. But if you’re using God as a form of manipulation, God knows your heart, and I don’t care what kind of power and influence you have.”
Here’s what he says about the rapper now
Hughley appeared on The Talk this week and one of the topics that was discussed was West’s recent outbursts and the concerns about his mental health. The actor and comedian insinuated that West’s behavior was quickly labeled as issues with his mental health state because he is making controversial statements about Black people.
“He’s mentally ill, but he’s only mentally ill when he’s insulting Black people,” said Hughley. “He’s not Nick Cannon mentally ill. He’s never done that…usually when people sound like him, they’re homeless and they‘re in need of help, but he can access it.”
He continued, “He has the ability to say I need help and the resources to do it. We live in a country right now where people who are that way, who really do need mental health — we walk past them on the streets…We pray for people. We pray for him, which is not a bad thing. He had a tragedy. There’s people on the street that went to war, that we sent to war that are broken. We do nothing for them. So, I think we have a cult of celebrity that enables behavior like that.”
