- Kanye West is defending his controversial Yeezy Gap display, calling himself an "innovator."
- The rapper's line is being sold out of big black bags at the store instead of displayed on hangers.
Kanye West is defending his controversial Yeezy Gap display.
The rapper, who now goes by Ye, made headlines earlier this week when shoppers shared pictures of clothes from his line being sold out of big black bags. One Twitter user claimed that a sales associate said Ye "got mad" when he saw his apparel on hangers.
—little miss (@owen__lang) August 15, 2022
Ye addressed criticism of the displays in an interview with Fox News' Eric Shawn on Thursday.
"Look, man, I'm an innovator, and I'm not here to sit up and apologize for my ideas," he said. "That's exactly what the media tries to do, make us apologize for any idea that doesn't fall under exactly the way they want us to think."
Ye told Fox News that his clothes were being sold out of large construction bags, not trash bags. Shawn said the rapper told him the goal was to make people's lives easier so we can "basically dress in the dark."
"This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration — this is my life," Ye said during the interview.
He added: "I'm fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people."
Shawn said Ye told him he also wanted to "help the less fortunate across the country" by making it easier to dress.
Ye's collaboration with Gap was created with Balenciaga. The plain black hoodies, T-shirts, and leggings are priced as high as $300.
Insider's Amanda Krause interviewed shoppers at a Gap store in New Jersey on Wednesday and noted that many people put the clothes back into the bags after asking employees what the prices were.
"I like Yeezy — the feel of it, the heavy cotton, and the oversized look," shopper Elijah Richardson told her. "I'd definitely buy it if it was cheaper — he should bring the prices down."
And while Ye told Shawn that his line "sold out immediately" across the country, Krause said plenty of merchandise was available at the Gap store she visited.
According to Dezeen, Ye launched his collection in July with several dumpster pop-ups. In one location, customers had to "dumpster dive" through waste bins that were filled with the new Yeezy line.
Gap announced its partnership with Ye in 2020, calling it a "full circle" moment since the rapper had worked at a Gap store when he was a teen in Chicago.