HEAD OF MUSIC at Youtube, Lyor Cohen, happened to be with Kanye West during the peak of his controversial tweets at the end of last month.
They even got this selfie together, along with Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge:
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Speaking to Pitchfork, Cohen said:
I had no idea that he was going to put that on social media.
Cohen, who previously worked with Def Jam/Warner, explained that he had visited Kanye West in Calabasas to hear some of the rapper’s new music.
Kanye wanted to play us some music. I was on the way to the restroom and there was Lucian and Kanye was coming out, and he said “Oh wow, we’re all together. Let’s take a photo.” I thought he was going to take a photo and send it to Lucian and myself. I had no idea that he was going to put that on social media.
Pitchfork questioned Cohen about his hand gesture, which is one that has been co-opted by the far right in recent months. Cohen said he was totally unaware of the current connotations:
Isn’t that scuba for when you’re in the water and you’re all good?
While Lyor was impressed with Kanye’s new music, he was not as pleased with his politics.
I don’t love his politics but I was really impressed with the music. I think he’s doing himself a disservice by not leading with the music.
