Kanye West Says He Regrets Not Sticking By Alleged Sex Offenders ASAP Bari And XXXTentacion
Kanye West pit himself in the throes of controversy ahead of his weekend album drop and Saturday Night Live appearance, when he took to Twitter on Wednesday, September 26, to lament his failure to support artist ASAP Bari and the late XXXTentacion through their recent sexual assault cases.
Kanye has been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence on the airways thanks to his “I Love It” collaboration with Lil Pump having debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Streaming Songs chart. News of the single’s success so moved Ye that he apparently felt called to celebrate publicly. In doing so, the legendary hip-hop producer found scores of followers on Twitter to share in his jubilation. But he’d also raise eyebrows with his use of the moment to praise fashion designer and alleged sex offender ASAP Bari as an inspiration.
“There’s no way I would have the number 1 record in the world without this man here. He broke me out of my pretentious rich n***a shell,” Ye tweeted.
In the proceeding moments, Kanye would only incite more of a rise by publishing a pair of additional posts in which he expressed guilt and regret over the decision to distance himself after news broke via TMZ that Bari had been arrested for a sexual assault that allegedly took place in London in 2017.
“Bari challenged me when no one else did and when he got in trouble I was scared to say he was my friend just like I did with xxx and that was some p***y s**t on my part,” Kanye would go on to write, before adding that he “let the perception and the robots control” him. He’d then close the series of controversial tweets by insisting that “Jedis never let perception and cancel culture get between them.”
Fans would take notice of how Kanye made a brief reference to slain rapper XXXTentacion in his apology to Bari. Prior to his untimely murder in June, XXX had been awaiting trial for false imprisonment, witness tampering, and aggravated battery. The charges stemmed from the alleged brutal beating of his pregnant girlfriend, as detailed in a 142-page transcript of her testimony that leaked and was first reported on by Pitchfork last year.
Accounts of Bari’s alleged assault are less graphic, but to many proved to be a lot more concrete given a video capturing the incident appeared to corroborate the accuser’s claims after it went viral on the internet. In the recording, a group of men stand around a bedroom staring at a couple laying beneath a set of covers. Before long, a man who is alleged to have been Bari rips the covers off of the naked woman and demands to be given oral sex. Humiliated by his actions, the woman springs to her feet and flees the room on the brink of tears.
She would go on to file a $1 million lawsuit against Bari before he was taken into custody and released this past May.
Both XXXTentacion and Bari’s cases would be dropped in August, with charges against XXX being expunged due to his passing and Bari being absolved because his accuser never showed up to fight in court.
