Kanye West seemed determined to launch the ninth season of his YZY fashion label with no small amount of controversy in Paris on Monday evening, emerging in a long-sleeved shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter” emblazoned across it. The live-streamed showcase saw West, 45, deliver a speech to the audience in the shirt. “I am Ye,” he said, “and everyone here knows that I am the leader. You can’t manage me.” Candace Owens, the conservative Black pundit, was also present, and was photographed alongside West in a matching shirt. “White Lives Matter,” designated as a hate slogan by the Anti-Defamation League, is a phrase widely associated with the far-right and white supremacists. West, who made his catwalk debut on Sunday as part of Balenciaga’s Summer 2023 collection, did not offer direct commentary on his fashion choices. In a Sunday Instagram Story, the rapper shared a statement from the house’s creative director, Denma, who wrote in part, “One needs to have courage and persistence to truly assume their identity and who they really are. Every day becomes a battlefield to defend this unique identity.”