Kanye West backpedals on comment about abolishing the 13th amendment in TMZ interview

Kanye West is walking back his provocative statement calling for the abolition of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which eliminated slavery. West, who recently changed his stage name to Ye, went on "TMZ: Live" Monday, five months after his controversial appearance in which he called slavery a "choice." Kim Kardashian's husband was asked to explain what he meant by his remark over the weekend. "What I want to say is abolish was the wrong language, I misspoke by saying abolish. Amend is the right language," West said. "What's beautiful about our constitution is we can amend it." The 13th amendment ratified in 1865 states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The "Yikes" rapper appears to take issue with the part that reads "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted," essentially allowing for slavery in prisons. "This translates to, in order to make a freed man a slave, all you have to do is convict them of a crime," West said. (A friend of the rapper's from Chicago actually wrote that explanation for him, which he read aloud from his phone.) "What you're saying is… you can use prison as a pretext to bring involuntary servitude back, is that what you're saying?" Levin asked. "Well it has," West replied. Although he gave a rambling response, he seemed to want to drive the point home about how many African-American prisoners are first-time offenders, serving sentences for non-violent crimes, or struggling with mental health issues. Levin asked what West wants the wording amended to. "So that people cannot be forced to work in prison? What are you talking about?" Levin asked. West pulled his phone back out and gave a long pause before responding. "There should be a group, a modern day group, of respected, super knowledgeable people. Not me as a celebrity with an opinion. There should be a group of super knowledgeable people that come from all cultures that then make the amendments on our constitution," he said. "I didn't say modern, I didn't say new because that notes a specific time and time is used to control us and control our energy. So, there needs to be people that look like the people who are being spoke about."