I have heard that Kanye West, or Ye as he’s now going by, is a musical genius. I can’t deny or confirm he’s a musical genius because I’ve never listened to him which might be a bit weird since I’ve done a lot of cartoons on the guy. But, since I’ve heard this description from people I respect, like Trevor Noah, I’m gonna go along with it. This is unlike with Donald Trump, where the only people who call him a genius are morons, and with Vladimir Putin, where the only person who’s called him a genius is moron Donald Trump.

Kanye starts nearly as many feuds as Donald Trump, but even Trump ceases his feuds with his ex-wives. Lately, Kanye has feuded with D.L. Hughley, Trevor Noah, and Pete Davidson. But it’s his feud with his ex-wife that is cause for the biggest concern.

Sending threatening tweets to Hughley and Noah is one thing. He has been suspended by Instagram for a racist attack on Trevor Noah and also banned from performing at this year’s Grammy Awards, which for a lot of people, would be about as damaging as being sanctioned by Putin (Hillary Clinton thanked him for the honor). But harassing the mother of your children is an entirely and much more dangerous thing. It’s bullying, harassment, and abuse. And yes, you can abuse a person without ever physically touching them.

I’m very fortunate to have divorced the person I divorced. I don’t mean that like I’m lucky to get out of that relationship. I mean I’m lucky she’s a very good person. I’m lucky that the woman I had a child with is Michelle. I’m lucky she’s a good mom. I’m lucky she never attacked me in front of my son or used him against me. We’re not perfect and we fought, but we didn’t drag out son into it. I’m lucky she married Kenny, a good man I was fortunate to have my son around. I’m lucky to be friends with my ex-wife and her husband. I’m lucky we didn’t Kanye this shit. I’m lucky I can consider both of them family, which I do. We divorced when our son was ten and for the next decade-plus, I had him every Christmas, every summer, and every spring break, and Michelle never once even tried to prevent a visit. If anything, she encouraged it and I’d get an occasional extra week.
But I wasn’t so lucky when I was a kid.

I didn’t meet my father until I was 21. And before then, there was no contact initiated by him. The man went for a pack of cigarettes before I was two years old, and he never returned. He walked out on me, my older sister, and our mom. On my 13th birthday, my mom told me my father had called and was on the phone to talk to me for the first time in my life, but I didn’t hear the phone ring. My mom never said bad things about my father to me even though she had that right in that he had abandoned us. Like covering for my father when she called him to tell me “happy birthday,” she didn’t do it for him, but for me. I know this. But after I met him, all she could do was attack him. But I was 21 then and could take it and I also felt she had some justification to do that. Her stuff was petty sniping and little digs here and there. My father, on the other hand, was engaged in an outright smear campaign.
My father told me things no parent should tell their children about their other parent, like graphic sexual details. My father was bitter and obviously still in love with my mom…but he hated her too and expressed his resentment every chance he could. It was a failed campaign from the start since he was attacking a person who had been there for 21 years while he wasn’t. The only consolation I had when my father told me horrible things about my mother was the fact he was a liar. Even my last name is a lie. I loved my father while at the same time believing he was a bitter alcoholic piece of shit. The old racist paid dues to the NRA but never once paid child support. Then again, I was lucky in this situation. I was lucky my father didn’t raise me. The only resentment I have with my father today is with myself. I resent that I didn’t give him the ass-kicking at least once he richly deserved. The only reason I didn’t do that was because of how my mom raised me.
Each time one of my parents spoke ill of the other, I thought less of the parent doing the attacking. But I took a lesson from that and have never said anything negative about my son’s mother in front of him. I know he doesn’t want to hear it just like I didn’t want to hear it. Any issues my ex and I had with each other weren’t supposed to be his issues. Besides, I could never convince or manipulate him to hate his mother. Why would I want that anyway? For that matter, I’ve never said bad things to him about his stepdad. And if I had, my son would think less of me today for it. I refer to Kenny as my husband-in-law.

These are lessons Kanye needs to learn. Kanye needs help and oddly enough, some of the people he’s feuding with are the ones trying to help him. Pete Davidson, who is the boyfriend of Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s ex and the mother of their four children, has reached out to help Kanye despite his constant attacks. Trevor Noah made a public plea for Kanye to get help, which is why Kanye turned around and attacked him. Leave it to Noah to explain it best.

In a ten-minute segment on The Daily Show, Noah said of Kanye’s attacks on his ex-wife, “It touches on something that is more sensitive and more serious than people would like to admit. I know everyone thinks it’s a big marketing stunt. Two things can be true: Kim likes publicity. Kim is also being harassed. Those things can be happening at the same time. ‘Cause I’ll be honest with you, what I see from this situation — I see a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything.”

Noah also said, “What she’s going through is terrifying to watch, and it shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”

Noah has experience with this as he watched his stepfather’s abuse of his mother be ignored…until he shot her in the head.

Noah said, “The point is that Kim Kardashian and countless other women, they find themselves in a terrible position, you know? Because asking Kanye to stop clearly isn’t helping.”
“What we’re seeing though is one of the most powerful, richest women in the world, unable to get her ex to stop texting her, to stop chasing after her, to stop harassing her. Just think about that for a moment. Think about how powerful Kim Kardashian is, and she can’t get that to happen. … If she cannot escape this, then what chance do normal women have?”

Trevor Noah is also a fan, telling Kanye, “There are few artists who have had more of an impact on me than you, Ye. You took samples and turned them into symphonies. You’re an indelible part of my life, Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain.”

What Trevor Noah received for making a public appeal to Kanye, and in support of abused women everywhere, was an attack from Kanye. But Kanye should listen to Trevor Noah as he’s in touch and probably one of the smartest guys out there with a giant platform to speak from.

When you have a child with another person, you’re in a relationship, or at least you should be, with that person for the rest of your life, whether you’re with them or not. The child is more important than the bullshit between the two of you. At the very least, you will have to work with that person until the child is 21. Kanye should get help for himself, but he should do it more importantly for Kim and their children.

Seek help, Ye, as right now, You’re the bad guy, just like Vladimir Putin.

Music Note: While coloring today’s cartoon, I listened to a little Sugar Ray.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw: