After less than seven minutes in a heated interview between Kanye “Ye” West and Piers Morgan on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” the rapper made claims that director Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx “got the idea” for the concept of their 2012 film “Django Unchained” from him.
West — who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021 — said he pitched a similar idea when initially brainstorming the music video for his 2005 song “Gold Digger,” which features Foxx. Ye released the official music video in 2009, which centers on a montage of Foxx and Ye dancing with various pin-up models. The final product bears little resemblance to “Django Unchained,” but that didn’t stop the rapper from claiming the film’s plot was his idea.
“Tarantino can write a movie about slavery, where actually — him and Jamie — they got the idea from me, because the idea for ‘Django’ I pitched to Jamie Foxx and Quentin Tarantino as the video for ‘Gold Digger.’ And then Tarantino turned it into a film,” Ye said during the Oct. 21 interview.
The response was prefaced by Morgan asking, “Do you believe there are limits to free speech, and if there are, what are they?” Ye went on to explain how Tarantino’s film demonstrates the absence of limits to free speech, given the movie is filled with racial slurs and still readily accepted by audiences.
Tarantino both wrote and directed “Django Unchained,” with Foxx starring in the lead role. The revisionist Western film follows Django’s attempt to free his wife (Kerry Washington) from enslavement after freeing himself, partnering with a German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).
Notably, Tarantino conceived of “Django Unchained” ahead of Foxx’s attachment to the project, even considering both Will Smith and Michael K. Williams for the lead role.
Ye has reached a new level of controversy in recent weeks after posting antisemitic statements on social media, resulting in his account being restricted on both Twitter and Instagram. The tirade was met with fierce criticism from numerous Jewish organizations.
When given the opportunity to address criticism of his recent actions on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Ye said, “I just want to give every Jewish person a big hug. Also, I’m envious of the Jewish people. I’m envious of how they don’t abort their children, I’m envious of how they don’t shoot each other in the streets and then rap about it.”
In the same interview, he also stated that if he had worded his social media posts in a more sensitive way, “then we wouldn’t be here right now,” referring to the live television interview he had secured.
