Kanye West bizarrely compared his decision to wear a 'White Lives Matter' shirt to Tonya Harding landing her famous triple axel

• Kanye West compared wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt to Tonya Harding's triple axel.
• He said he wore the shirt on "gut instinct," similar to how Harding pulled off her skating stunt.

Kanye West compared his decision to wear a "White Lives Matter" at Paris Fashion Week to infamous figure skater Tonya Harding mastering one of her sport's most difficult tricks.

The rapper appeared on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" show on Thursday to defend himself after receiving backlash for wearing and promoting a "White Lives Matter" shirt during a fashion show for his Yeezy brand.

During the two-part interview, Carlson asked West why he decided to pull off the stunt, to which he responded with a comparison to one of the most controversial figures in US skating history.

"It's like if you asked Tonya Harding how she did the triple flip, or the triple spin, she was in so much practice that when it was time for her to skate in a competitive format, it just happened," he said. "It's using a gut instinct, a connection with god, and just brilliance."

"That's what's happening," he added. "God is preparing us for the real battles."

Representatives for Harding did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal business hours.

Harding became the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition during the 1991 US Figure Skating Championships in Minnesota. After the release of the 2017 biographical film "I, Tonya," starring Margot Robbie as the US skater, Harding told ABC News that she "just did" the stunt that requires a forward takeoff followed by three and a half revolutions in the air.

"I just did it. Nobody else did it," she said. "Nobody helped me land that triple axel right there in that moment."

But while Harding's skating prowess landed her a place in record books, she is most well remembered for being accused of orchestrating a 1994 attack on her Olympic figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan.

Harding has always denied any involvement in the attack.

West's t-shirt stunt was condemned by many, including Black rights activists.

On Monday, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was murdered by white men while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood in 2020, called out the rapper for wearing the shirt.

An attorney for Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Arbery, shared a statement on her behalf with Rolling Stone which said Ye's shirt could "directly support and legitimize extremist behavior, [much] like the behavior that took the life of her son."