Kanye West made some very ridiculous comments this week about slavery being a choice for 400 years. This sparked outraged nationwide and even within Ye’s fan base. Celebs are also unfollowing him at a rapid rate on social media . Now, radio stations are also being skeptical about even playing his music anymore.
The first radio station that’s falling back from West’s music is 105.1 The Bounce in Detroit. Hosts BIGG and Shay Shay discussed their decision to the Detroit Free Press. They aren’t sure when they’ll play his music again as his comments have brought about a really tough situation.
“That’s what it is right now,” said Shay Shay. We need a break. 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.”
BIGG also elaborated on the ban of West’s music as the two initially discussed the situation with their program director while Estelle’s 2008 hit record ‘American Boy‘ featuring West was on the air.
“Shay Shay said, ‘You know, why do we gotta play this?’ I said, ‘I agree. It’s kind of weird after he made those statements.’ “Kanye is one of the core artists in our format. This is a significant chunk of songs that we’ve played that we’re not going to play right now.”
Losing a big market in Detroit was bad enough but then Hot 97 also announced that they would participate in the ban by saying “The boycott of Kanye West has begun.”
Making sunken place comments like West’s will always bring about the inevitable. It will be interesting to see how Ye is able to recoup from this situation.