The family of George Floyd, the Black man who was killed by law enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020, is considering suing Kanye West after the rapper spread a conspiracy theory claiming that Floyd died by fentanyl instead of the police brutality.
The Grammy-winning hip hop star and fashion designer, now known legally as "Ye", made the comments about Floyd while speaking about conservative pundit Candace Owens' documentary The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM.
On the 'Drink Champs' podcast, Ye said: "I watched the George Floyd documentary that Candace Owens put out.
"One of the things that his two roommates said was they want a tall guy like me, and the day that he died, he said a prayer for eight minutes.
"They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy's knee wasn't even on his neck like that."
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid used by medics to treat severe pain that is known to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Both substances are highly addictive.
Although medical experts said Floyd had a small amount of the drug in his bloodstream, doctors confirmed he died due to officer Derek Chauvin's knee being on him for eight minutes, causing asphyxiation, as was widely reported at the time.
Chauvin was later sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for Floyd's murder.
Responding to Ye's comments, Floyd's family lawyer Lee Merritt tweeted on Monday: "While one cannot defame the dead, the family of #GeorgeFloyd is considering suit for Kanye's false statements about the manner of his death.
"Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines & diminishes the Floyd family's fight," the civil rights attorney added.
Newsweek has contacted the Floyd family through their other lawyer Ben Crump.
Owens and Ye are friends, and both have been in the news for other controversy recently.
Ye was suspended from Twitter and by Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, for going on an antisemitic tirade on the social media platforms.
Owens defended Ye's comments, which were condemned by Jewish groups, which claimed the rapper's comments were antisemitic.
The two were also pictured backstage during the Yeezey Season 9 show at Paris Fashion Week wearing t-shirts with the slogan "White Lives Matter," emblazoned on them.
The slogan is classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a "white supremacist phrase."
The phrase originated in response to the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015, which rallied behind Floyd's family after his death, and has been used by white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Renaissance Society.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Dutton is a Newsweek Reporter based in Cape Town, South Africa. His focus is reporting on global politics and ... Read more
