N.O.R.E. Apologizes For Allowing Kanye West’s George Floyd Remarks On Drink Champs

George Floyd’s death sparked one of the most violent civil unrests in American history. Derek Chauvin was held accountable for his death and sentenced to 21 years in prison by a federal judge. Kanye West recently stated on N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast that George Floyd died as a result of fentanyl and that the cop’s knee was not “on his neck like that.” N.O.R.E. recently apologized for airing Kanye’s insensitive remarks.

During a Sunday appearance on Revolt, Kanye West unloaded more than three and a half hours of anti-Semitic rants, lies about George Floyd, and angry insults about everyone from Trevor Noah to Diddy. During a call to the “Breakfast Club” on Monday morning, TV’s “Drink Champs” interviewer N.O.R.E. apologized for using his platform to have such views aired.

N.O.R.E., who only occasionally challenged West during the interview, received numerous furious social media messages for his implicit acceptance of several of the comments. “I want to be honest. I support freedom of speech. I support anybody not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt,” N.O.R.E told, “The Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne Tha God. 

I did not realize that the George Floyd statements made by Kanye on my show were so hurtful. You have to realize that it was the first five minutes of the show – like when he walked in, he told my producer that if we stop filming, he’ll walk out. So I didn’t want a Birdman moment, like when he walked out, so I wanted the man to speak.

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N.O.R.E. emphasized that he did “check” West on some of the more inflammatory statements against George Floyd. The assertion that Floyd’s death was caused by a Fentanyl overdose, rather than police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted on two murder charges and one of manslaughter, is particularly troubling. “I actually checked him about the ‘White Lives Matter’ thing too, but they were later in the episode, and I was already inebriated at that time, that maybe people looked over it. But I apologize to the George Floyd family.”

I made a mistake doing the Kanye interview. I could come out here and say this was Kanye’s thing and that’s it. And guess what? People will forgive me and I could get away with that. But that’s not what I’m doing. I feel like I failed my people. I called ‘The Breakfast Club; because I wanted to apologize to my people.

When the hosts of “The Breakfast Club” joked to the Drink Champs podcaster about former President Donald Trump’s comment about Kanye being too “crazy” about West’s antisemitic words, N.O.R.E. chuckled and stated, “That’s when I had to step up.”  Charlamagne gently chastised N.O.R.E. for not pushing West sooner in the lengthy interview. He also criticized him for having him on the show in the first place.

As your friend, I told you last week not to do this [interview]. I told you this twice.

Unlike Kanye, N.O.R.E. had the decency to apologize. It’s improbable, but let’s see if Kanye apologizes in the future. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

What do you think of this Kanye controversy? Let us know in the comments!