N.O.R.E. is apologizing for not holding Kanye West more accountable during his latest interview on Drink Champs.
This morning (Oct. 17), N.O.R.E. called into Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning show and spoke with cohosts Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez. He touched on numerous aspects regarding Ye's newest Drink Champs episode, including apologizing for not checking West until near the end of the interview. He also revealed that Ye had threatened to walk out of the recording, and that he didn't even realize what West had said until he rewatched the episode.
"I didn't think he was gonna spread this ideology, I didn't think he was gonna go there," N.O.R.E. said at the 9:13-mark of the interview below. "I thought that he was gonna have a couple of drinks. He smoked blunts with us, I thought it was gonna be lighthearted."
N.O.R.E. continued: "He threatened my producer, that if he couldn't film he would walk out. We was trying to…That's how our interviews go. We try to lighten you up, and then we get you drunk and then we get you to turn to our side. We tried to do that. We did, but it's Ye. I learned my lesson, ’cause at the end of the day, as a journalist, I did my job. I let a person talk. As a journalist, you supposed to have no opinion, no options, none of that. But, I kinda, I'm Black. I am George Floyd. I am Virgil [Abloh]. I am that. And I didn't know ’til I saw it. I don't watch my own interviews, I just think I'm that dope. So, when I watched myself, I was embarrassed. I was like, 'Wait a minute, what did you let him just say?'"
Rosenberg then checked N.O.R.E. on the fact that journalists have the responsibility to question their subject over blatantly false statements. In the end, N.O.R.E. is taking blame for the embarrassing moment.
"When I look back at the interview, I was like, 'Damn, N.O.R.E., why did you wait two hours to address that,'" he added. "Even though I did feel like I addressed it. I addressed it way too late. The interview way too long. And I'm embarrassed…I can blame this all on Kanye West, I'm not. I want to sit back and say I was irresponsible for letting it go."
N.O.R.E. also doubled down on his apology during an interview on The Breakfast Club this morning.
"I apologize to the George Floyd family. I apologize to anyone who was hurt by Kanye West's comments," he said.
N.O.R.E. and Kanye West have gotten backlash for Ye's new interview, most notably for Kanye claiming George Floyd died from fentanyl and not the nine minutes former police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck, because that's what Ye heard on Candace Owens' new documentary,The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM, where she bashed the Black Lives Matter movement. The family of George Floyd is considering a lawsuit against Kanye for making the false claims.