(CNN) — Kanye West wants to clarify his controversial comments about the 13th Amendment.
The polarizing rapper, who now wants to be known as “Ye,” was roasted this past weekend for his comments about President Trump from the stage of “Saturday Night Live” and for later tweeting that the 13th Amendment should be abolished.
The polarizing rapper, who now wants to be known as “Ye,” was roasted this past weekend for his comments about President Trump from the stage of “Saturday Night Live” and for later tweeting that the 13th Amendment should be abolished.
The amendment, which was ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime for which someone had been convicted.
West stirred outrage with a tweet Sunday which showed him on what appeared to be a private plane while wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap. In it he wrote, “This represents good and America becoming whole again.”
“We will no longer outsource to other countries. We build factories here in America and create jobs,” West tweeted. “We will provide jobs for all who are free from prisons as we abolish the 13th amendment. Message sent with love.”
Kanye West stirs more outrage with 13th Amendment, slavery tweets
He later tweeted a clarification.
“The 13th Amendment is slavery in disguise,” he added. “Meaning it never ended. We are the solution that heals.”
The rapper appeared on TMZ Monday to further clarify his statements.
“Abolish was the wrong language,” he said. “I misspoke by saying abolish. Amend is the right language.”
He then read from a statement he said his friend and fellow Chicago rapper GLC wrote for him. West said his friend “puts a lot of energy into understanding historical facts.”
“In 1865, the 13th Amendment stated that no man is destined to slavery or involuntary servitude unless convicted of a crime,” West read from his phone. “This translates to in order to make a freed man a slave all you have to do is convict them of a crime.”
Host Harvey Levin tried to confirm where West was going.
“So in other words what you’re saying is they carve out prison for involuntary servitude and you can use prison as a pretext to bring involuntary servitude back,” Levin said. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“Well it has,” West said.”There’s people getting paid 8 cents a week working for companies that are privately owned and a lot of them are first-time offenders. A lot of them are non-violent crimes.”
West said he believes there should be a group of diverse “super knowledgeable people” who work on amending the Constitution.
It’s just the latest controversy for West, who has been a vocal supporter of President Trump. After performing several songs on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, the rapper went on a rant about Trump and racism in America as “SNL” went off the air.
The rapper also told TMZ he has reached out to former NFL player Colin Kaepernick to try and arrange a meeting with Trump.
Kaepernick started a silent protest in 2016 when he began kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games to protest police brutality and racial injustice. Trump accused him and other protesting NFL players of being unpatriotic and called them “sons of bitches.”
“I have been calling Colin this morning, reaching him so I can bring Colin to the White House and we can remove that ‘sons of bitches’ statement and we can be on the same page,” West said.
CNN has reached out to reps for Kaepernick for comment.
