Following his recent controversial appearance in a “white lives matter” T-shirt, Ye continues to receive backlash for his comments about ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the T-Shirt on social media. One of the people who are expressing their anger at Ye, is the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, who is also sharing her opinion.
Wanda Cooper-Jones shared a statement to Rolling Stone saying that Ye’s actions “flies directly in the face” of what he had expressed to her family after her 25-year-old son was killed when he went for a jog in Georgia.
Ahmaud Arbery was chased and gunned down by three of his white neighbors in February 2020.
In a statement provided through her attorney Lee Merritt, Wanda expressed her “extreme disappointment” in Ye for slapping the phrase “White Lives Matter” on clothing from his latest YZY collection and doubling down on his stance on Tuesday. The statement read, “As a result of his display, ‘White Lives Matter’ started trending in the U.S., which would direct support and legitimize extremist behavior, [much] like the behavior that took the life of her son,” Wanda relayed through Attorney Merritt. “That is the thing that Wanda and families like hers continue to fight against.”
He added, “This mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement and his now denunciation of the movement as some sort of hoax flies directly in the face [of what he’s said,]” Merritt added. “It’s confusing for her, it’s confusing for the families to receive his support privately, but publicly to set us all back.”
Ye had close ties to the Arbery family. Lee confirmed that the rapper provided some financial support to Arbery’s family as well as the family of Jemel Roberson.
Jemel was a Black security guard fatally shot by a police officer in 2018. Lee did not disclose the amount that the rapper donated.