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Kanye West is claiming victory against cancel culture.
On Monday, February 12, the controversial rapper was approached by TMZ as he entered Los Angeles International Airport with his wife Bianca Censori. He began by expressing his excitement about the success of his Vultures Vol. 1 album reaching No. 1 on streaming services. Later on, he admitted that he was two months away from bankruptcy after he lost all of his corporate partnerships in 2022, but his decision to move his business venture overseas to Italy ultimately saved him.
"We survived," Ye said. "We survived through the cancellation. We're back [at] No. 1."
"It wasn't about the controversy," he continued. "It was about the ability to say how you felt out loud, and if I didn't have the various skill sets of music and clothing and the fanbase, they would've been able to destroy me. But because we had all those skill sets, somehow I'm here inside of this universe able to fight."
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's Vultures album held the top spot across several streaming platforms after it was finally released last Saturday following months of delays. Ye followed up by debuting his low-budget ad for Yeezy.com the next day during Super Bowl LVIII. He promoted new merch from his online store like his YZY Pod shoes, t-shirts and pants at $20 each. In an Instagram post, he confirmed that he made at least $19 million in total from merch sales.
Elsewhere during his brief run-in with TMZ, Ye addressed the attempts he made to apologize to the Jewish community amid his offensive comments. Despite his apologetic messages from the past, he still thinks some of things he said was true.
"I said apologies," Ye said. "Some of the stuff I was saying is true so until y'all come up and say 'What he was saying some of that was true,' go ahead with all that."
"Black people can't be antisemitic, we are Jew," he added. "For all the kids that love me, al the Jewish kids that love, I'm sorry that y'all had to hear a grown-up conversation with us screaming at each other. But we got to a point where something needed to happen. Something needed to be said. Somebody needed to say something. When you're in an argument with somebody, you're not going to say everything the right way. But it got to a point where y'all ain't going to keep running and calling me bizarre in press for all these years."
West was reportedly supposed to release a 40-minute apology video, in which he addressed his past comments, ahead of his latest album. However, it looks like he's going to save his commentary for an interview with Justin LaBoy. Check out a clip from his upcoming interview below.