Detroit Radio Station Won’t Play Kanye Following Slavery Comments

"When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice," West told TMZ.

Kanye West onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Kanye West onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415

A hip-hop radio station in Detroit will no longer air Kanye West’s music because of an “overwhelming response” from listeners disturbed by his recent suggestion that African-American slavery was “a choice,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

“Kanye is one of the core artists in our format,” 105.1’s program director John Candelaria told the Free Press. This is “a significant chunk of songs that we’ve played that we’re not going to play right now.”

As for how long the ban will go on?

“That’s what it is right now. We need a break,” radio personality Shay Shay reportedly said. “I think it’s a gut feeling of when we’ll be able to feel comfortable playing it again, when we’ll want to hear it again, and more importantly, when will our listeners want to hear it again.”

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