 Alright, thanks for staying with us now. American rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, or Kanye or Marie West, popularly known as Kanye West or Yi, has lost about $2 billion in 2024 hours after several brands rather cut ties with him over the anti-Semitic comments that he made. Now this is coming less than 48 hours after an American business magazine Forbes announced that Kanye no longer has a place on its billionaires list, now that his lucrative deal with Adidas is over. Now the brands that have cut ties with Kanye so far include Balenciaga, MRC that's the entertainment studio shelved and already finished the documentary that they did. His talent agency, CAA, Adidas, Jaylen, Brown, Aaron, Donald, Footlocker, the real real T.J. Max, Madame Tussauds, even in the UK they took out his wax statue. Now reacting to the loss, the rapper in a post on Instagram explained that the people are who he is, not the money. He wrote, I lost $2 billion in one day and I'm still alive, this is a love speech, I still love you and the money is not who I am, the people are who I am. He also, his school Donda Academy was affected as they were also dropped from a high school tournament because of Kanye's ultrances. This is really crazy. Now bringing this home, we're asking how do Nigerians begin to handle hate speech? Because this one, I mean, any statement you make abroad, everybody's cutting you off, right? And you really feel the impact. But we do not have those kinds of reactions when certain people make certain comments here in Nigeria. Now please, let's hear what you have to say, remember you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08-1 803-4663, you can also tweet at us at Weissho after one of the hashtag Weissho. Uti, I want to come to you first because your nature is a bit unstable. Can you quickly first of all establish this Kanye West matter? Because I'm hearing so many stories and I hear that this one that has just happened was because of a statement he made against the Jews. So I don't know how true this is, you know, because he's been making so many statements before, it seems like everybody was not paying attention until he touched the Jew. So I don't know if that is true, but let me hear your thoughts, you know, how your understanding of all that is going on with Kanye West. Okay, so Kanye West actually officially changed his name to Ye, so it's just Ye now. Please, at the center of this controversy that started earlier in the month when he posted that he was going to DEF CON 3 on Jewish people. Now, he said that he's not anti-Semitic, of course, but you can't say you're going to DEF CON 3 on Jewish people and won't be taken seriously. I suspect from what I've seen and what I've heard there's a combination of things. There was, I believe, an altercation or something where he accused Diddy of being controlled by Jewish people. There was also issues that he apparently had also made some comments around Mark Zuckerberg who, of course, whilst having been, should I say, is an atheist, been an atheist, is obviously of Jewish origin. So it's been, or Jewish faith rather, it's been a controversial time. And it's a very, very sensitive topic. Of course, in the history of Jews, we know that they've been through a lot as a people. Now, the thing that we must first dissociate from here because I know when we're talking about this earlier, there's so many perspectives and issues here that one can unpack from this thing that is happening here. So we are not addressing this today from the fact that Ye is a very controversial character, and we know that he has in the past talked about being bipolar. So we're talking about this like Ye was a fully stained person who is in control of all his senses and is responsible for everything that he's saying, which is of course the way we have seen it play out because all of these brands have dropped him. What particularly the first time the story caught my attention was when he made the comments that it didn't matter what he said or what anti-semitic statements he made that the brand added us would not drop him and his easy line of trainers. Of course, the day I heard that in my mind I was like, why would you be so confident and so bold that hate speech would not be taken seriously by a global brand as big as added us. In my mind at the time, just the inner workings of my mind I thought, is it because they're a German brand that they would do that. But of course from a financial perspective, perhaps he thought that he was too important to the brand because it's a hugely successful brand of shoes. We can see the impact just of that one brand. Everybody had dropped him or the minutes added us dropped him off the full list he went. So we can sort of estimate the value of that brand. About 1.4 billion or 1.2 billion. Yeah, exactly. So we can see how how valuable that brand is. So in fact added us hasn't said they are dropping the shoe. They've just said it will no longer be branded easy. So from next year, they will be selling the shoes under the added us brand. So coming back to the issue of hate speech, right? It is incredible that or rather incredibly sad that in the world today, Kanye is just a symbol or a representation of what is happening out there because in the midst of all these people, all these brands rather dropping. Yeah, and you know people other celebrities condemning the state even his ex wife has come out to say and she condemns hate speech and she stands with the Jewish community. But even in all of that rational behavior, there are still people who are out there. There was a picture earlier in the week of a group of people who went and hung a banner over a very popular highway in the United States to say and Kanye West was right. And you know, Jewish people are making Nazi symbols and all of that. So the fact is today, what has his actions played out to and what are the consequences of his actions today in the United States? There is a heightened level of fear for Jewish people. There are people who are finding it difficult to leave their homes now who don't feel safe. People who are on the other side of the divide all of a sudden have been given a platform. They are now, you know, it's almost like what President Trump did when he was staring up things in the United States. But this is now against a particular group of people. And now people were going to start to see, you know, rises in attacks in and we hope that it doesn't even result in death because human beings. It only takes a little thing to spark things off. So it's sad that at this point in time, this is where we find ourselves that and this is not a new experience. Like I said, for the Jews, we all know the history with the Holocaust. And even since then, over the years, they've really, really suffered with this anti-Semitic movement, not just in the United States, but, you know, in a lot of places around the world. So it's sad that in 2022, we are still here, given that the Holocaust was, my map is wrong now, but it's, I mean, well over, I think 80 years ago now or how long ago, yeah, that that happened. Okay, let me come to the ladies in the studio. I know Lidia is itching to talk. I'm itching to talk, but at the same time I had, I'm sorry if I seem distracted. My network kept going in and out. So I couldn't access what I want to say. So I'm just going to have to speak like a layman. We find that some religions seem to be more tolerant than others. The Christians, for instance, don't react the way Muslims do when Mohammed seems to have been disrespected. When they say to Jesus, we don't act. Maybe it's the teachings of our religion, I don't know, but it's tolerance in different religions that allows for such things to happen. Just like the blacks when in America, when they're talking about slavery, the way they're so touching about the subjects, Kanye being their black sheep as well, has always made a statement that if you rated them saying that slavery was a choice, he seems to want to just bring controversy, whatever the case is. But there's certain topics that people don't joke with. The Holocaust, slavery, I don't even know if there's any other thing apart from those two that people are like, regardless of how dirty the way you get, never crack jokes about it. Recently they said there were some girls dancing in a cotton field, twerking and everything. And the outrage was incredible. People were like, your forefathers, your ancestors died picking cotton. Do you think it's something to joke about? Meanwhile, we're wearing cotton today, it's not the issue. But don't joke about such things. The reason why I think people want to make points, this time around where Kanye is concerned is he's gotten out of hand. He's done it too many times. I think he even made a statement that if we had some kind of other kind of power in the house, maybe he would get away with some things. But when you start hissing people in their pockets for being insensitive, lacking emotional intelligence, being fickle with their speeches and their statements, thinking the power of money can make them drew and say anything and get away with it, people who start applying sense more and more. And I'm happy you're saying that and that's why we now want to bring it home to the topic that we're having today, Glory. Because this is something that is happening abroad, Kanye West. We've had series of hate speeches, issues around tribalism, issues around religion. We have it almost all the time here. How do we begin to handle it? Because like you rightly said, this is hitting his pockets. Maybe, maybe this might just be what would be needed for him to actually be curbed. But let's take a very quick break because I also want to open our phone lines. When I come back, I want you to help me understand how do we as Nigerians begin to handle speeches or hate speeches or whatever it is. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Alright, so thanks for staying with us. Now, if you're just tuning in, it's Our Lady's Night Out and we're analyzing the recent events around Kanye or you call it Yi. Yi. That's a funny name. And asking, how do Nigerians begin to handle hate speech, right? We want to bring it home to Nigeria. Now, please, let's hear what you have to say. Remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 081 80384663. You can also treat us at Weissho Africa 100 hashtag Weissho. Now, the phone line is now open. The number to call is 07 025 007749. Remember the rules. Turn off the volume of the television set. Call us on 070 25 007749. I just want to quickly put something. There's a semblance of that happening in Nigeria because there's this cancel culture, they call it, where if you just say anything, we cancel, cancel, cancel. We don't want to go as deep as this. Two things for me, I feel. We don't really have proper endorsements. We don't have proper, like, the way they document endorsement, the way they document all of those things abroad. So it's not easy for you to really say you want to hold them by the balls. Well, let me hear your thoughts, Glory. You know, when we talk about hate speech, there is a lot to say when it comes to that. First, I want to break it down by saying that hate speech is not the absence of freedom of communication. So it's communicating, but making speech that's not insightful, be it really just tribal, racial, sexual, whatsoever it is. So I'm a little, I try to strike a balance, especially when looking at our context in Nigeria. So we have the ability to be extreme in most things. So sometimes if we, people say hate speech, we find sometimes where, even when people are naturally, how do they call them, activists are just performing their civil rights. You know, people just say, yeah, hate speech. So I try to strike a balance when I talk about hate speech. Now, how do Nigerians handle hate speech? First, it's not just about, this happened to Kanye, he's a public figure, but I want to bring it down to us, you and I. Sometimes the things we say, we don't know, we are insightful. Hold our thoughts. I think we have our first caller for the evening, Bayer from Lagos, you're live. Hold your thoughts, don't forget your thoughts. Go ahead, you're live. Yeah, hello. Yes, you are live, go ahead. Yeah, good evening. Good evening. Yeah, I think the issue there is that, you know, over there, their level of exposure, or that sort of awareness, when it comes to the issue like that, I mean, as far away from the way it seems to be over here. And sincerely, I mean, nobody will want to, like, what's one of your guess, guess, guess. I mean, you know, somebody, four fathers, you know, they have been, you know, traded under the weight load of sleep and, you know, bits of guesses to pass through a lot of things before. And somebody, which has caused the future generation a lot of things. Why are you membrane it? And somebody just over here, and serializing it. It's like, you are bringing a kind of, you know, hood wounds back to life. So, and for what you said, it shouldn't even be expected of the caliber of Kanye West with the level of, you know, the publicity portrays. You know, to be saying like, they're not talking about Harry, they're talking about a lot of people that are using it as their ambassadors and all that. These are multinational corporate entities. So, you're going all out there. I mean, I think it's really a very big mistake for you to have. Thank you very much. Thank you. Go ahead. So, sometimes there are things we say as individuals. We don't know we are being insightful. And this has, you just mentioned the case of religious intolerance. So even hate speech goes both ways. How do we handle hate speech? Number one, we need to be tolerant, both on the side of the receiver of the hate speech and the emitter of the hate speech. Then, whoever is emitting this hate speech is supposed to know that you need to understand, you need to try to put yourself in the shoes of this other person. How do we begin to handle them? Because, you see, what has happened to Kanye West now, for instance, right, is that the companies are not even smiling. So you think you have mouths because we've been giving you, you know, endorsements and all of that. And they're just stripping them off endorsements. We have these things going on in Nigeria. How do we begin to punish people that are very careless when it comes to things they say? Because we've seen people try to divide us as a country. I guess with religious lines, tribal lines. So if you do something, yes, if you do say no one gets brain. We will teach you how to get brain. That's what I'm saying. Because that's what Adidas is doing. But Uti, you want to say something? Yes. So I just wanted to just, when you asked that question just now, these people are not scrapping Kanye West. Let's be clear. There is the outrage, right? That, oh my God, he said that. But then there's also the very reality that the reason why Kanye is an ambassador in the first place is because they need to drive business. Yes. Down to the top line, right? And when you now have something that puts that bottom line at risk, which means these comments are inflammatory to more people, then your business, your sales are at risk. It's like what happened with Gucci and Black people? So the fact is, if you look at the way he was dropped from the different companies, some companies he was immediate. Adidas, which was the biggest one. In fact, there was a lot of noise when people were saying, Adidas is silent. Adidas hasn't said anything. It was almost like, oh, was Kanye even right that truly these guys can't drop him? So it is down to Naira and Kobo. So when you bring it home here to the question that you asked, when you said how did these people live? People are, they are big endorsement deals in Nigeria, no joko. But the thing there is, it's different because the populace, how many things were, can you decide in Nigeria not to buy? These types of brands. We don't even have an option. We have bad service. You will walk away and say, I'm never buying from there again. You will still come back. So our circumstances are very different. I just wanted to put that in when you were talking. You can't even make money because you don't have enough career. You will still come back. There's apparently a review of a hate speech bill that is online for everybody to Google and educate themselves. I wasn't aware until I got networking when I was sitting there. So I have to study it and see what the law says about it in Nigeria. But the reason why I did that is I think they have taken their time in actually reacting is the lawyers would have had to go back to the agreement they had with Kange. Oh yes. To see first of all what we can use as a legal, you know, what do they call it? Because I think there's a settlement that would have to happen. That would have to happen if they ended the contract too soon. And what are the conditions for ending a contract with him? So before they make a statement, they have to be sure that they block all the rules that he can come back and sue for more money than what his partnership was even worth in the first place. And then again, when we say hate speech, just like you said, Glory, at times I might just be expressing a perspective. But the receiver is taking it as hate speech. Where is the general rule that we can all agree on that it is hate speech? Because do you understand? Because the lady should... Line in what can be defined as hate speech. The lady that they said they burnt the students a few months back who were expressing herself. Absolutely. And they took it as hate. From a WhatsApp group. From a WhatsApp group. And they took it as hate and they lynched her. How do we come with a template that we can all agree on that is hate speech? Then again, where the consequences will happen in Nigeria because consequences are the things that we never follow. Yes, because it's a very valid question you have asked. Because like Uti Riley said when she was given the opener, some people want to put a flag in support of Kanye West because as far as they are concerned, what he has said is nothing. It's not a big deal. They are in support of it. I get that point, right? But you see, anything that touches is sensitivity, right? Somebody comes now and says something about your child. I am sure you're going to take that as... I mean, something really, really hurtful about your child. I'm sure you're going to take it as hate speech. So there's no generic rule as to say this is what hate speech is. But once you begin to infringe on somebody else's rights, you begin to infringe on somebody else's sensitivity, then you have to be cautioned. May I say something? In that story, Uti, when you say that even representatives of the government in America have made statements that seem to be infreaging on the sensitivity of our people, slaves... People even say don't call them slaves number one because you made them slaves. They weren't slaves when you picked them up. So if Kanye expressed something and it seems to be infreaging on the sensitivity of a certain group of people, but the people in government and all other people have said it about gender, have said it about the choice of who you want to copulate with, have said it about slavery, and they are not bearing any consequences. I think he's also been made an example of... Okay, let me take Youngest Old Man. Then I'll come to you, Uti. Youngest Old Man, you're alive. I know. Is he on this issue? I'd like to throw in and out, and I'll be very, very careful so that you can understand me. You see, I could remember every time of Hitler, Hitler had to follow us. People loved what he's doing, why some hated him for who he is and what he's doing. So in every opinion, somebody was always dancing to your tune and somebody will always be a supporter of whatever opinion you are bringing out. For example, at the new British Prime Minister, somebody came up on one of their reviews and said that, how can we go to the Scottish program? I don't know if you heard it, him being an Asian. How will he be the leader? How will his face look like? For all I care, that is the most sensible and undiluted his speech. But even if they get serious, they don't say that is it. The other lady that became the host man became the king of England. The other woman refused to wish it on. So for me, I believe that everything in every place comes in with different perspectives. You see, when he wants to do it, I don't see himself as a leader in fact. But I promise you, please see me, we'll bring him up one day. But during that time of Hitler, he was as simple as this. So let me make you understand that if you bring him to Nigeria, we have a lot of Hitler's in this country. And nobody sees him as Hitler. Or her. Yes, he's coming every day. People speak with full hatred. And they are not even technical about it. It's so direct. You understand? But we, our culture has made it that we don't have options. You understand? It's already our culture. We don't have options. We are limited. You understand? If you bet, they will send him property. They will weaponize it. When hungry was you, you bought for your variables. So basically, we are psychologically enslaved. And we don't have much to say. However, he has done his bit. But history, I'm very sure we will not have messy on him. Because he has done it very, very wrong. Thank you. Thank you very much. Go ahead. I want to say, when Gloria was speaking about the definition of hate speech, right? Because I understand that it's a slippery slope. And in fact, I was going to talk about the hate speech bill that they mentioned. The reality of it is right? Hate speech is who I hate you. I don't like you. I tell Gloria, I tell Lady, I don't like what is hate speech. It's against a person. It could be against a religion. It could be against a race. It could be anything. I think when we start to get into the territory that is dangerous, right? Which is what we are really talking about today. It's when it begins to incite something. It starts to incite violence, right? Where you are now putting people at risk by what you are saying. That is the clear line that we are drawing. So, you know, when the hate speech bill, I think it was in 2018, 2019, I think it was even 2020. I can't remember. There was a time when they tried to push it for reading again. You know, it came the first time and then the second time they tried to bring it up again. And people were like, it's so vague. Like, how would you define hate speech? It just seemed at the time, like, politicians were trying to use it as a way to shut down. People having a different opinion and people calling them out, right? So, it almost, I don't even think that thing when passed that first reading, I think it just died again. Absolutely. Let me take Samuel. Sorry, Uti. Samuel, you are live from Lagos. Samuel, are you there? Okay, Uti, go ahead. Yeah. Okay, were you done? Okay. What I was going to say very quickly is that hate speech is happening every day in Nigeria and I think that's what Youngest Old Man was trying to say. Just spend 10 minutes to Zibunlong. Spend 5 minutes on Twitter. Bacon. Every person. Everything. So, this is such an important topic for us because we have bread intolerance. But every maker of, I mean, it is almost now become a I think we have normalized hate speech. We don't even consider it anymore as hate speech because now everybody is just they call it true. And that's why it's becoming very dangerous because we know what that can become and that's what I think they were trying to say that the consequences for us is akin to a match with a keg of petrol. Hmm. So, when you talk about hate speech in Nigeria, like someone said, oh, I don't like the example that Uti gave. I don't like Uti's against the person. When we have presidential candidates going around and saying that oh, as a Yoruba vote for only Yoruba as an Ibo, you should consider That's being insightful. That's being insightful. So, these things too if they too suffered consequences such statements would not be loosely made on a presidential campaign because it could easily incite wars. When you start teaching people about tribalism and meanwhile in your mind you're thinking I'm trying to win numbers over but you're already classifying people and then other people think about it and say, oh, we don't even want them to win. Then they start acting on it. That too is hate speech. Absolutely. So, I mean, these are the things that we and that's what I was saying that how do we begin to handle it because it seems like we have just normalized certain things in this country. We don't pay attention anymore. We don't even consider that these things are actually because now, this is a country that takes these things seriously. Madame Tussauds in London there is too much he would do like this. Your work's image here. Because they feel like every little thing is an endorsement. So, if they keep that image there, it means that they have accommodated and they are endorsing what can US has said. We don't have all of those things. We have people on board of directors of certain companies. They have done certain things and we are just onlookers like nothing has happened. They are accommodating it. I mean, that's why I said you have to report that driver of that car in his services. It's not because I want to be vindictive to the other person. You know we're saving. God knows who you're going to be saving you. Yes. So, we have to start to pay attention to these things. We're not trying to be, oh, we are wholly at a doubt or whatever it is. He who is endorsing cause the first dose and that's not the point. The point is that there are so many things that are against strike, against religion, against so many things that we have overlooked or just looked away that is causing a lot of problem. And that's why we're now having issues around security threats, all of these things happening because now nobody knows how much heated the system is until we really draw close to the elections and is not a case of, you know what, you're going to do this or you die. Could I quickly throw in the word genocide in the conversation because it's such statements that starts the the conversations where tribes and tongues start deciding let's separate ourselves from certain people. When he last started thinking I want to do with the Jews, I'm sure he started with a conversation maybe on a game, playing Scabula or something with a friend and he's like these people are even, that's how it starts. They went with Nigerians in South Africa just last year experiencing xenophobia, genocide, it's all about it. When you don't start nipping things in the bud, even in our conversations, because you made a statement sometime saying that being deliberate about your conversations, being intentional, was the word you used. Every word. With every conversation you have, every interaction as a human being, I personally want to say based on that day, since you said it too, that I'm going to be intentional about every single conversation. And I want to say that I want to particularly talk to people that have some level of influence, because Kanye West influence is not a joke. And like Prince E. Ridley said, these people, they know how much billions that guy was bringing into their business. For them to even sign those kind of endorsement, he's a money spinner. Anything Kanye West touches, turns to gold. Even Kim Kardashian, his ex-wife, he's still taking royalties from a particular shapewear that he only has. So I'm just saying to you that he is actually a money spinner. The guy is a money machine. He's someone that can turn anything and make it into something very valuable. So you see, when you have those kind of people of influence, you have to be extra. You are the one that has to be responsible. So you know it's not just for yourself. Yes, because now there are certain things that must not come out of your mouth. There are certain things that you must not do. But we do not have that sense of responsibility here. And that is why we need to start paying attention. So if it is us that we need to start doing cancer, we have to start throwing stones at people. And I know the youth are doing it in Nigeria. Because now, anybody that talks anything against the obedient people, they just cancel you. I said it's very nice now. And I said it's insightful. When you said we have to start throwing stones at them. But that's insightful as well. So let's not give things. Let's not throw stones. But let legal way to do it. Yes, let's start cutting. Let's not patronize what they say we don't get options. That's the sad part. You don't have too many options that we cannot do all of these things. I don't get money. So let's me take comments because we're running out of time. In another video, it's a current issue. Yes, Uti, are you there? Yes, I'm here. So my comment is from our regular viewer, our regular fan, Daniel Illo. He says, give me my dear beautiful sisters of ways. Kanye West, how do I just have to hate speech? I'm not taking my points from Kanye West. I want to talk about hate speech generally. My dear beautiful sister Gloria said hate speech has to do with give and take. Sister Lighting made mention of money rules, the world. That is why people say and do what they like. Sister Awa said that it is based on religion and tradition. You ladies did not do well at all. You left Sister Awa all alone in the show yesterday. There is God. That's hate speech. Don't incite against us. Daniel is speaking fact. He's inciting against us. This is from Bobby Kennedy. He said, when you stand for the truth, you stand alone. The world is built on telling comforting lies. Setting black men like myself will never bow to cheap stuffs. Let's hope they don't kill him for talking. That's another thing. There's also a culture that is going around the world. That seems like if you are against certain kinds of people, all of a sudden you become the enemy, you become the outlander. The abnormal is becoming the norm. We can't stand against the abnormal. See the woman that said women shouldn't show their pregnancies anymore because those who have chosen to be women, even though they were born as male, that can't show pregnancy, will be offended. She wants it to be put into it. So that is where now it is. Where do we draw the line? So you see, that's why something, what will be hate speech to you, might not be hate speech to somebody else. Because now again, there is a deliberate attempt to change the narrative that we knew humans or what we knew growing up, right? So there's a global narrative that everybody must align. So is it that you fall in or fall out? So that is also one that people are thinking that are supporting kind of saying that that is where we should also consider that we should be able to speak freely. And strike a balance. But you see that matter, it's not me that we say that. But thank you so much, thank you Uti, thank you Glory, thank you Lydie. Now before we go, I'm sure you follow us on all our social media handles at Wayshoe Africa. You can interact with us further, drop a comment. And more importantly, follow all our engagements on social media, like share and invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation. Now if you missed our quote for today, here it is again, I think it was on Mandela. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate. And if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to human heart than its opposite. I mean, that's so true. We are actually, we are love beings, right? Love dwells on our inside. So when you start to see hate, you know that there's a wrong program in somewhere. But we'll see you guys tomorrow at 8 p.m. Let's bring another great conversation to your screen. Enjoy. Bye bye.