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Comments by US rapper Kanye West that enslavement of African Americans may have been a "choice" have not gone down well.

"When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice," he said during an appearance on entertainment site TMZ.

"We're mentally imprisoned," the star added. He recently made headlines for his support for US President Donald Trump.

Black people were forcibly taken from Africa to the US, during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and sold as slaves.

The rapper has been criticized for what many have called "ignorant" comments.

This twitter user called the comments "worse than anything" US President Trump has ever said:

Captain Ozwald
 
Slavery- a human is someone's property, that he/she can be bought, sold and owned; and forced to work without being paid.

Your Favorite Rapper Kanye West thinks slavery was a choice. This is worse than anything Trump has ever said/ done.

Another imagined that West would hold the same views on apartheid in South Africa.

Kgoshi Ya Lebowa@Marcellomj
 
"Apartheid in South Africa was a choice" - Kanye West