Kanye West calls iconic Black activist Rosa Parks "a plant"

American rapper Kanye West has been suspended from the social audio app Clubhouse after criticising civil rights activist Rosa Parks. He called the iconic Black woman "a plant" while saying people are going to find out something wrong with heroic figures like Obama and Malcolm.

Rosa Parks is known for fighting against segregation in 1955 by refusing to give up a bus seat for a white passenger in Alabama. Her actions led to a boycott of public transport and a movement for equal rights for Blacks. It started in Montgomery and spread across the US.

The audio was posted by The Neighbourhood Talk and the rapper was ranting about his issues with historic and political figures.

He was heard saying: "Everybody knows Obama, not from Chicago." "Since 1948, all of these movements... I know woke's going to be mad at me. But, all of these heroes, man. It's only one, and that's Jesus Christ. You're gonna find out something about MLK, something about JFK, something about Malcolm, Rosa Parks. We know Rosa Parks was a plant."

He further said that the media is used to outrage because outrage is an economy. The 45-year-old also spoke of the trauma economy and asked "whose death are we going to promote this week?"

"It ain't like 14 people ain't getting killed every week in Chicago. But no, we're going to publicize this on our- I'm not gonna say whose platform it is... It was the Jews," said the musician who has lost several brand deals recently for making antisemitic remarks.

Clubhouse released an official statement and said: "We took action to shut down a conversation yesterday because it violated our policies. We also suspended those who violated the policies. There's absolutely no place for bullying, hate speech, or abuse on our platform as explicitly stated in our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service."