On Twitter today, and in an interview with Breitbart, she clarified that West helped design the X in “BLEXIT.” Initially the descriptions on the site where the products are for sale prominently listed West as their designer, though the site has since been updated to remove West’s name. Owens’s name does not appear on the product pages.

"Blexit" shirt
“Design by Kanye West.”
Image: Screen shot of shopblexit.com

West, who has drawn criticism for his support of US president Donald Trump and for his apparent rightward political shift, hasn’t responded explicitly about the matter, only tweeting, “We’re about love unity and we design for the world.” He has previously voiced his support of Owens, tweeting, “I love the way Candace Owens thinks,” and argued (paywall) that black voters are taken for granted by the Democratic party and have the mentality of slaves on a plantation. (Some of the Blexit t-shirts say “We Free,” evoking this line of thought.)

And then there are various other statements by West that have riled black people, like saying 400 years of slavery “sounds like a choice.” He apologized later for that comment.

An alignment with Owens, who has said that the Black Lives Matter movement has a victim mentality and who chose Breitbart, which has links to white nationalism, to reveal the launch of her Blexit concept, is only more likely to put West at odds with more black Americans.

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