Kanye Took It Too Far With His Most Recent Tweet

Sometimes, I have the energy for Kanye West and his various stunts. Sometimes, I even find it entirely entertaining. Like, when he announced during his MTV VMA speech that he was running for president in 2020 — it was humorous, irreverent, and completely harmless. When West is all of those things, I can get behind the man, his indeterminate personality, and the way he swings wildly between that meek guy hanging in the corners on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the man who gets in Twitter wars on the regular. But, when I saw Kanye West’s recent tweet calling Bill Cosby "innocent" — Cosby, the man accused by over 50 women of drugging and/or sexual assaulting them — I stopped rolling my eyes at West and started getting angry.

Because this time, Kanye West finally took it too far.

Most of the time, I can’t figure West out for the life of me. Is he doing these things for publicity? Does he actually believe the stuff that comes out of his mouth?

Honestly, after this recent event, I’m not sure of anything anymore. This isn’t West interrupting Taylor Swift on stage at the MTV VMAs and saying Beyoncé deserved a single award more — and this isn’t announcing your presidential race to an audience of millions. This is much more than that.

Taking to Twitter to declare what he has about Cosby has a huge impact. There are millions of women around the world who are victims of sexual assault who can see West's tweet — and he's sending a terrible message to them, and to the entire world, by making such a public declaration regarding this case. The case surrounding Cosby is a complex one that West should not be commenting on.

Of course, West has the right to say whatever he wants to say — and he clearly takes advantage of that right whenever he can stand the chance. But there are consequences to the things we say, and I’m afraid that the consequences of West’s single tweet may be far more damaging than the rap star even realizes.

Back in November 2014, Cosby's former lawyer Marty Singer released a statement in regards to the claims of sexual assault against the actor:

Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.

Bustle has reached out to West's rep in response to this tweet, but has not yet received a response.