PETA Calls Out Kanye West and The Game for Using Skinned Monkey as New Song Artwork
The artwork for Kanye West and The Game's new single, "Eazy," which shows a skinned monkey, has PETA pissed off.
President of the animal rights organization, Ingrid Newkirk, issued a statement to Billboard on Friday (Jan. 14), slamming the duo for promoting and sharing the images via social media.
“The photo is reminiscent of the monkeys PETA has found, sometimes heads, sometimes hands, sometimes the whole body, in meat markets around the world and it makes it clear that when you remove the fur you can’t miss that there’s a person in there, that they are fellow primates, and do not belong to us to abuse for any purpose—not in laboratories, roadside zoos, movies, or meat markets,” the statement reads.
Ye and Game put out their new single on Friday afternoon, hours after it was slated to drop. The artists shared artwork promoting the single on social media, which depicts a monkey that is hanging from its arms that has had its skin removed, the bloody skull and muscles are fully visible.
XXL has reached out to reps for Kanye West and The Game for comment.
Aside from the shocking cover art, the song made headlines for Kanye taking a shot at his estranged wife's new boyfriend, Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson. On the record, which is produced by Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, Big Duke, DJ Premier and Cash Jones, Ye raps, "God saved me from that crash/Just so I can beat Pete Davidson's ass (Who?)."
The last few days have been eventful for Kanye, to say the least. He is also accused of striking a man who approached him for an autograph in Los Angeles on Thursday (Jan. 13).