Kanye West: “I’m Still Homophobic”

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      It was a couple of years ago when Kanye West spoke out against homophobia in hip-hop and while he was applauded by liberal thinking fans, other critical fans were waiting for Kanye to come out of the closet. In an interview with NME.com, West shared the fallout of speaking publicly about homophobia in hip-hop.

     "Speaking out against hip-hop homophobia, some people were like ‘Oh, Kanye must be gay! Look at the way he’s dressing! And why would he speak about it? He’s a gay rapper’," Kanye told U.K.’s NME.com. "And my whole point is, I wouldn’t have spoke on that if I was gay or if I was in the closet. I would have stayed so far away from it. And I’m still homophobic myself to certain extent… You know, I wouldn’t go to a gay parade and feel comfortable. I wouldn’t ever to a gay club or something and just be chillin’ and grab a drink. It’s being in the entertainment world, I meet so many different gay people who are actually nice people. Where I came from, Chicago, being black and being a hip-hop artist, we used to really disrespect gay people. And the thing is, we can’t get close to them with a 10-foot pole. And I realized, ‘Wow, how ignorant has this been?’"

      Kanye is currently on a promotional tour in Europe stopping by radio and TV shows and also a couple of intimate shows. His single, “Stronger,” currently hold the #1 spot on the U.K. charts.