Kanye West has defended his controversial new music video by saying “art is therapy”.
Following widespread criticism over his track Eazy, in which he kidnaps, kills and buries his ex Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Pete Davidson, the rapper took to Instagram to explain his vision.
“Art is therapy just like this view,” he wrote. “Art is protected as freedom of speech. Art inspires and simplifies the world. Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm.”
He added: “Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended.”
The 44-year-old, who is in the midst of a divorce battle with Kim, 41, released the animated music video last week but then later deleted it.
The clip shows a claymation figure of comedian Pete, 28, being kidnapped, tied up and buried alive.
The song includes the lyrics, “God saved me from that crash just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s a**.”
At the end of the video, the words, “EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER / EXCEPT SKETE YOU KNOW WHO / JK HE’S FINE,” appear, referring to the rapper’s nickname for the Saturday Night Live star.
Kim, who is currently attending Paris Fashion Week, was not amused by her ex’s video.
The reality TV star, who made headlines of her own by wearing a skin-tight catsuit made of yellow tape bearing the name of the label, Balenciaga, is said to be furious at Kanye.
A source told PEOPLE: “She thinks it’s way too violent and is upset. She’s really upset with Kanye that he’d do this. She’s completely over all of this and she wants it to stop.”
Pete, meanwhile, took the video as a compliment.
“He finds the fact that Kanye included a cartoon version of him in his music video hysterical,” a source for Entertainment Tonight revealed of Davidson.
“He is almost flattered by it all because it is so ridiculous to him.”