CNN
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Kanye West will not be featured on “The Shop: Uninterrupted.”
West, who legally changed his name to Ye, recorded an episode of Lebron James and Maverick Carter’s YouTube chat series earlier this week. In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, Carter said the episode would not air.
“After speaking directly to Kanye, I believed he was able to have a thoughtful discussion about his recent statements and actions. Unfortunately, he used The Shop to reiterate more hate speech and very ugly stereotypes” Carter, who is also CEO of Springhill Company, which produces the series, said in a statement, “We have made the decision not to air this episode based on any of Kanye’s remarks.”
Carter did not specify what was said during the recording.
“While The Shop addresses thoughtful and difficult subject matter, we have zero tolerance for hate speech and will not air it on any of our channels under any circumstances. I take full responsibility for believing that Kanye wanted a different conversation. While I understand this may leak, I hope others will choose to do the right thing and not give hate speech to any audience,” Carter added.
A source close to the situation told CNN that James was not present when the episode was taped.
CNN has reached out to a rep for West for comment.
The decision comes just days after West was suspended from Instagram and had his Twitter account restricted for violating the platforms’ policies regarding posts criticized as anti-Semitic.
Over the past week, West has also sparked controversy for dressing himself and the models at his fashion show in shirts printed with the words “White Lives Matter,” a phrase used by white supremacist groups and considered a hate slogan by the Anti-Defamation League.
West later defended the stunt in an interview with Fox News.
This story has been updated to reflect that new episodes of “The Shop: Uninterrupted” are released exclusively on YouTube. Stream seasons 1-4 of the series stream on HBO Max, which, like CNN, is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.