Owens credited the Yeezy mogul for designing “Blexit” merch — a portmanteau for “Black” and “exit” that mimics Britain’s exit from the European Union — for her movement she launched in late 2018 that encourages Black voters to leave the Democratic party and register as Republicans.
“Blexit is a renaissance, and I am blessed to say that this logo, these colors, were created by my dear friend and fellow superhero Kanye West,” Owens told Page Six at Turning Point USA’s Young Black Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 27, 2018 (Owens was Turning Point USA communications director at the time of the event).
But Ye cleared the air on Twitter a few days later when he denied helming the designs. “I introduced Candace to the person who made the logo and they didn’t want their name on it so she used mine,” he wrote. “I never wanted any association with Blexit. I have nothing to do with it.”
West later wrote the mishap exposed him to the dangers of falsely spreading ideas he doesn’t personally align himself with and announced, “I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative !!!” But that obviously didn’t signal the end of West’s political antics as he continued to push forward with his 2020 presidential campaign under his independent “Birthday Party.”
On Halloween (Oct. 31), Owens penned an apologetic blog post titled after the rapper’s fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak for falsely tying him to her Blexit movement, especially considering how much he means to her as a “superhero” and as a “friend.”
“Listening to music from Kanye West and Jay-Z is what I give credit to having kept my spirit alive on some of the very worst days. It’s a crazy thing to know that you wake up one day and someone whose words and lyrics literally kept your spirit alive is suddenly your friend. God is good. There are so many people in this world who love Kanye West because they know he is great and powerful and cool, but not every person in this world knows what it means to have someone’s rap lyrics literally save you,” she began writing. “…If I had to imagine what it would feel like to have a bullet pierce my heart, it would be exactly like the moment I learned Kanye told the world he felt I had used him. I wouldn’t wish the way I felt last night upon my worst enemy.”
She continued: “I never once said that Kanye designed the t-shirts for BLEXIT. This is a lie that seems to have made its way around the world; a lie I would like to again correct for the record. Kanye was completely right to feel used in that regard and as I have done personally, I would like to publicly apologize to him for any undue stress or pain the effort to correct that rumor has caused him, his business relationships, or his family. He simply never designed them.”
Since then, Owens and Ye have patched things up, with Owens supporting the rapper by attending his controversial Paris Fashion Week show in 2022, and Ye returning the favor by walking the red carpet premiere of her film, Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM.
