Kanye West reacts to fallout over homophobia comments

Kanye West have spoken out about the reaction he received after speaking out against homophobia.

West, who went to Number One with single 'Stronger' last night (August 19), was quoted as calling rap too homophobic.

Speaking about the reaction he got for that statement, he explained: “Speaking out against hip-hop homophobia, some people were like 'Oh, Kanye must be gay! Look at the way he's dressing! And why would he speak about it? He's a gay rapper'," he notes. "And my whole point is, I wouldn't have spoke on that if I was gay or if I was in the closet. I would have stayed so far away from it.

"And I'm still homophobic myself to certain extent… You know, I wouldn't go to a gay parade and feel comfortable. I wouldn't ever to a gay club or something and just be chillin' and grab a drink.

"It's being in the entertainment world, I meet so many different gay people who are actually nice people. Where I came from, Chicago, being black and being a hip-hop artist, we used to really disrespect gay people. And the thing is, we can't get close to them with a 10-foot pole. And I realised, 'Wow, how ignorant has this been?'"

Speaking about his famous post-Hurricane Katrina outburst live on US television (“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,") he told Manchester Evening News: “I guess people are keeping it a little bit more real now.

"At the time, that's what I had to do. It's almost a character flaw in me to be emotional and honest like that. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it can backfire on you."