Kanye West apologises for hurting his people with George Floyd drug slur

Kanye West has apologised for hurting his “people” by falsely claiming George Floyd died from the drug fentanyl.

The 45-year-old rapper had made the claim despite Floyd being murdered by a police officer suffocating him by placing a knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. He backtracked on his remarks to paparazzi on Friday night in an exchange that was captured on video and has now been shared online.

West said about footage of Floyd’s killing: “When I see that video as a black person, it hurts my feelings. And I know that police do attack and America is generally racist.

“And I understand that when we got to say Black Lives Matter, the idea of it made us feel good together as a people, right?

“So when I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. I want to apologise. Because God has showed me by what adidas is doing, by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now.

“So thank you God for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt. Because how could the richest black men ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone off of one comment.”

West was referring to brands including adidas severing ties with him, which he claims cost him $2 billion (R36bn) in one day.

The family of George Floyd is preparing a $250-million lawsuit against West for his unfounded claims about the murder victim, made during a podcast earlier this month.

Floyd’s death sparked global outrage Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three murder and manslaughter charges last year and is serving two prison sentences concurrently of more than 22 years.