"The Shop" has shelved an episode featuring Kanye "Ye" West after the rapper allegedly used the talk show "to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes," executive producer Maverick Carter said in a statement provided Wednesday to the Los Angeles Times.
According to Carter, "The Shop," which moved to YouTube this year after running on HBO, booked the controversial recording artist "weeks ago" and taped a conversation with him on Monday. Los Angeles Lakers phenom LeBron James, who frequently co-hosts the barbershop chat series with Carter, was not on set Monday or involved with West's taping.
"After talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion and he was ready to address all his recent comments," Carter said. However, after the taping did not go as planned, the production "made the decision not to air this episode or any of Kanye's remarks."
