In recent years, Kanye West’s actions and comments have caused a stir, but regardless, he is still celebrated as one of the most innovative talents in the music industry. Recently, a backup dancer named Maria took to TikTok to sing the rapper’s praises for defending and supporting her during an uncomfortable moment at one of his afterparties.
“Of all the crazy headlines that go up about Mr. Kanye West, I will always have a soft spot for him,” Maria said. “I genuinely think he’s a good dude and that’s because of a personal experience I had with him.”
Kevork Djansezian / Stringer / Getty Images
She explained that she used to be a backup dancer for West “many, many years ago” when he visited Australia. “He came to town and he hired like, twenty Australian girls to be his ballerinas.” One evening after the performance, everyone went back to the rapper’s penthouse—the dancers and Ye’s crew. They were all enjoying themselves at the afterparty when something occurred while a handful of people were hanging out on the veranda.
“Kanye was inside on his laptop doing something and a bunch of us were out on the veranda, dancing and drinking and all that sort of stuff,” she added. “We were all sitting around and a bunch of the guys that were like, Kanye’s little posse, were like, standing around and they were dancing and twerking.” They asked her to join in and she turned them on because she was “relaxing.”
Frazer Harrison / Staff / Getty Images
Maria noted that she was the “thickest” of all of the ladies and because of that, “the Americans were honing in on” her. She claimed that the group began pressuring her to grind on the guys and to get involved. “I could feel the walls closing in on me, I felt really, really uncomfortable. I kept saying no and they kept coming in… I was getting to a point where it was like, I feel really unsafe here.”
Then, “out of nowhere,” Kanye “burst” through the group and yelled, “She said no! So stop asking her to do it!” The group backed up and Ye stayed by her side and reassured her that she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. Watch Maria share her story below.
View this post on Instagram