In a new episode of 'Drink Champs', the host admits that he is both sorry and embarrassed by how he handled his conversation with the Yeezy designer, who made false claims on George's murder.
- Oct 20, 2022
AceShowbiz - N.O.R.E. a.k.a. NOREAGA apologized to George Floyd's family for Kanye West's comments on his death in a recent episode of "Drink Champs". In a new episode of the Revolt TV podcast, N.O.R.E. admitted that he was both sorry and embarrassed by how he handled his conversation with the Yeezy designer.
"I just want to be honest, I support freedom of speech," N.O.R.E. told hosts Ebro Darden and Nadeska and Lowkey in the Wednesday, October 19 episode. "I support anybody not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements [made by West] on my show were so hurtful."
"I wanted the man to speak," the host said of Ye. "Later on I actually checked him about the George Floyd comments, I actually checked him about the 'White Lives Matter' but it was so later in the episode…I was so inebriated at the time that maybe people looked over it. But I apologize to the George Floyd family, I apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye West's comments."
N.O.R.E. continued, "When I saw the George Floyd part particularly, I was like, 'Wait a minute. You were there?' I felt like I wasn't even in the room when it happened. And you guys, all three of you guys have been in interviews where you're caught and you might have not [caught] it at the moment. So that's really what happened."
He claimed that he was "so in a rush to get it out that I didn't even watch the episode. I didn't even watch it. So when I saw it, I'm in real time, when y'all saw it is when I saw it. And I'm like, 'Wait a minute!' And I was disappointed in myself."
As for his relationship with Ye, N.O.R.E. said that he still considers the "Donda" artist a friend. He also claimed that he tried to "get through to him" the day after the interview. He admitted that he and Ye should have talked prior to the filming, but he was too excited about the episode.
"I got caught in the moment, because to tell you the truth, I felt like I already scored the touchdown," he divulged. "I felt like, even me, that was like spiking the ball, you know what I'm saying? … I was caught off guard, I was caught off guard. And the best thing that I did, or the worst thing that I did, was I didn't watch my material prior to me dropping it."
He also noted that he didn't watch Ye's interview with Tucker Carlson so he was surprised that "this was whatever Kanye that showed up." He explained, "And I just wasn't prepared, you know what I mean? … The person that y'all see online is not the person I see offline. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not the person he shows me. It's like, when people call somebody crazy that you know is not really crazy, it's like that."
In the controversial episode, which has since been taken down, Kanye claimed that George died of fentanyl instead of being killed by officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes. "They hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guys knew wasn't even on his neck like that," the "Gold Digger" emcee said, citing Candace Owens' documentary "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM".
In response to the claims, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt confirmed that a lawsuit is being considered. "While one cannot defame the dead, the family of #GeorgeFloyd is considering suit for Kanye's false statements about the manner of his death," the attorney wrote. "Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines & diminishes the Floyd family's fight."
