N.O.R.E. Apologizes After Kanye West’s ‘Drink Champs’ Episode

N.O.R.E. has issued an apologetic response after his latest episode of Drink Champs featuring Kanye West went viral for the wrong reasons.

The visual podcast, cohosted by DJ EFN, allowed Ye to elaborate on his conspiracy theories and controversial opinions. Notably, the episode featured West falsely attributing George Floyd’s death to fentanyl.

“I’m sorry my fault,” shared the Queens-bred personality on Twitter shortly after the video went live on Sunday (Oct. 16.)

The “Banned From TV” rapper continued to express regret over the polarizing conversation the following morning. On Monday, N.O.R.E. called into The Breakfast Club, to address the Floyd commentary, adding that Ye had conditions for his appearance on the pod.

“I just wanna be honest, I support freedom of speech,” N.O.R.E. said. “I support anybody, you know, not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements on my show was so hurtful. And you gotta realize, it was the first five minutes of the show. When he walked in, he told my producer, he said that if he’ll stop filming that he’ll walk out.”

“So, I didn’t want a Birdman moment. I didn’t want a Birdman moment [like] with y’all like when Birdman walked out. I wanted the man to speak…I actually checked him about the George Floyd comment. I actually checked him about the White Lives Matter [shirt], but it was so [much] later in the episode. I was already inebriated at that time. Maybe people looked over it.”

“I apologize to the George Floyd family,” he added. “I apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye West’s comments.”

N.O.R.E. also addressed the issue on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning.

“I felt I could control the situation,” he explained to Peter Rosenberg, DJ Kast One, and Laura Stylez. “I felt like I can control the interview. And I learned early on that I didn’t. As a Black man, I feel like I failed. As a human, I feel like I failed. But as a journalist, I succeeded.”

The Drink Champs host continued to explain how he did offer pushback that was not featured until later in the interview. Still, N.O.R.E. says he should have checked Ye on the spot. He confessed he was too drunk by the end of the discussion to fully address the Chicago rapper at the moment.

“I didn’t think he was going to spread this ideology. I didn’t think he was going to go there,” he said. “I thought he was going to have a couple drinks. He smoked blunts with us. I thought it was going to be light-hearted.”