Kanye Apparently Blamed Rihanna for Assault Instead of Chris Brown: "She Must Have Done Something"

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of domestic violence that some readers may find distressing.

In 2009, Rihanna suffered physical abuse at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, following a heated argument; her face was bruised and she had a split lip, among other injuries. After being charged with felony assault, Brown entered a guilty plea. Years later, Kanye West took Brown's side and accused Rihanna of prompting the violence. As per The Wrap, while appearing on Netflix's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, West allegedly opined, "Chris Brown's career is basically over and you have Rihanna and everyone took her side." He added, "She must have done something to merit what happened to her."

Noah Reich and David Maldonado, who are from Los Angeles and were present in the audience during the taping of the interview, stated that Ye's comments about Rihanna were not included in the final version of the interview. According to them, Ye also discussed the #MeToo movement and reiterated conspiracy theories of the right, asserting liberals treated anyone donning a red MAGA hat (as worn by Donald Trump) 'like they were Nazis.'

“It was shocking to see that Kanye West could share harmful alt-Right beliefs, conspiracy theory after conspiracy, and misogynistic beliefs about women for the majority of the interview and end up with an edit that removed all those items in favor of celebrity fluff content,” Reich said. The two further claimed to have heard Ye lament that whenever there were accusations of wrongdoing, the media consistently seemed to side with women over men.

Letterman's Worldwide Pants, Inc. later issued a written statement describing the series as an 'edited conversation show' that was shot over two days, for over five hours, with West, before being condensed into a 55-minute episode. “Nearly four years ago, in an interview for ‘My Next Guest,’ Kanye West discussed a wide range of topics with David Letterman, including, family, fatherhood, music, and creativity. Kanye also told Dave that he had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder six months earlier, which led to a personal discussion about mental illness, its stigma, and treatment, and for the first time he talked about what he experiences when he has bipolar episodes,” the production company stated.

“Mr. West subsequently began an offensive rant about the #MeToo movement. He also later spoke about liberals purportedly bullying Trump supporters and about free speech being suppressed. These points were represented in the show, the producers went to great lengths to accurately present them, and Dave challenged him on each of these.”

Meanwhile, according to Harper's Bazaar, in 2017, Brown came under fire from two well-known women's groups for 'blaming' the Diamonds singer for the attack he committed against her. The Superhero rapper stated in a documentary that he was compelled to bite, punch, and force his ex-girlfriend against a car window after she mistreated him during a Grammy Awards ceremony.

DOMESTIC ABUSE: If you are being subjected to domestic abuse or know of anyone else who is, please visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1-800-799-7233, or text LOVEIS to 22522.