- Akon is defending Kanye West amid the backlash over his controversial Yeezy x Gap display.
- The singer told TMZ West shouldn't apologize and called the idea "creative."
- Ye's collaboration with Gap features plain black hoodies and T-shirts that cost up to $300.
Akon said Kanye West is creative and has a good heart after the rapper was slammed for selling his Yeezy x Gap clothing collection out of large construction bags.
In a video interview with TMZ published Saturday, the singer said he didn't think the rapper, now known as Ye, had to apologize for the controversial display.
"I mean, it's creative. I don't think anyone should ever have to apologize for anything creative," Akon told TMZ. "It's just an idea, it's just a vision of something that's in your mind."
Akon said that that Kanye is "only one man" and has been dealing with issues in his personal life over the last year. He added that critics of Ye's display should "just let him do it, and see what he does after he's successful with it," encouraging them to donate their own clothes to the homeless.
"You're just as bad as the person you're criticizing," Akon said.
Ye stood by his decision in an interview with Fox News' Eric Shawn on Thursday, calling himself an "innovator" amid criticism that he was exploiting homeless people. Shawn said Ye told him he wanted to "help the less fortunate across the country" by making it easier to dress.
As Insider's Anneta Konstantinides previously reported, one Twitter user shared a photo of the line at Gap and wrote that a sales associate told them the rapper "got mad" when he saw his apparel on hangers.
Insider's Amanda Krause visited a Gap store to shop the Yeezy x Gap collection, which was also made in conjunction with Balenciaga. According to Krause, although the trash bags looked messy from the outside, they were organized into individual piles using plastic dividers inside the bag.
The collaboration features plain black hoodies and T-shirts that cost up to $300.