N.O.R.E. Apologizes To George Floyd's Family For Ye's Problematic Comments

N.O.R.E. feels for everyone who was offended by his recent episode of Drink Champs in which Kanye West doubled down on his anti-Semitic comments and made incorrect statements about George Floyd's death.

On Monday morning, October 17, the rapper-turned podcaster called in to The Breakfast Club to formally apologize for airing his controversial interview with Ye. During the three-hour conversation, Ye continued to call out Jewish people (specifically those who work in the entertainment business) and repeated claims that the "Jewish media" is working against him. He also talked about a disputed theory that claimed George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose. N.O.R.E. denounced Ye's claim and apologized to Floyd's family.

“I apologize to the George Floyd family,” N.O.R.E. said. “I apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye West’s comments.”

In one of various problematic clips that went viral from the interview, Ye repeated a debunked talking point from political provocateur Candace Owen's documentary about Floyd. The doc alleged Floyd passed away from a fentanyl overdose and not from cardiopulmonary arrest caused by police officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd's neck. N.O.R.E. said that he pushed back on Ye's claims later on in the episode but his rebuttal was overshadowed. Nonetheless, he doesn't support "anybody being hurt."

“I just wanna be honest, I support freedom of speech,” N.O.R.E. said. “I support anybody, you know, not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements on my show was so hurtful. And you gotta realize, it was the first five minutes of the show. When he walked in, he told my producer, he said that if he’ll stop filming, he’ll walk out.”

“I don’t support none of it,” he added. “I don’t support the George Floyd comments, I don’t support the antisemitic [comments]. That’s all I have is Jewish friends, all I have is Black friends. That’s it.”

N.O.R.E.'s apology arrived not long after the interview was removed from REVOLT's YouTube channel. It also comes a day after an attorney for George Floyd's family announced that they are considering legal action against Ye. Listen to N.O.R.E.'s full apology up top.