Rapper Skepta has expressed outrage after video footage showed 13-year-old North West being swarmed by male attendees at Paris Fashion Week, with one adult man pulling her into a hug despite her clearly offering a handshake. The incident, captured on camera, has sparked widespread condemnation from the British musician and others.
Skepta's Reaction to the Incident
The 43-year-old grime artist took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his disgust. 'A blind man could see she wanted a handshake,' he wrote, reposting the original video. In a follow-up post, Skepta added: 'My fans know I try to stay out of peoples business but damn the way grown men, complete strangers, try to use North makes me sick.' He concluded the tweet with four puking emojis.
Skepta faced pushback from some users, including one named uglymannyy who questioned whether hugging was now 'a social offense.' Skepta fired back: 'What are you talking about?! She is 13 years old and she put her hand out for a handshake, you don’t ignore that. I can’t believe some these replies to my tweet.'
Broader Concerns About Child Safety
When another user claimed North had 'basically skipped being a teenager' due to her facial piercings, Skepta responded: 'WOW!! Protect your kids people. Protect your kids!' His final post on the matter described the incident as 'sickening,' adding: 'Schools teaching French, German & English when really the language most people need to f*****g learn is 'Body Language.''
The video shows North reaching out for a handshake when an adult man leans in and grabs her for a hug. Other images depict the teenager looking uncomfortable as another grown man poses with his arm draped over her shoulder.
North West's Background and Career
North is the eldest of four children Kanye West shares with ex-wife Kim Kardashian. Born in 2013, she has since pursued a music career, releasing her debut EP, N0rth4evr, earlier this year. In 2024, she performed Simba's song 'I Just Can't Wait to Be King' at The Lion King 30th Anniversary concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a performance that drew mixed reviews.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West married in 2014 and divorced in 2022. Kim has since dated Pete Davidson and Lewis Hamilton, while Kanye married Bianca Censori in 2022.
Kanye West's Recent Controversies
Kanye has faced backlash for a series of antisemitic and divisive comments, including releasing a song called 'Heil Hitler' and selling swastika T-shirts. He has since apologised, taking out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal titled 'To Those I've Hurt,' in which he attributed his behaviour to a 25-year-old accident that caused 'serious damage' to his mental health and led to a bipolar diagnosis.
'I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst,' West wrote. He later told Vanity Fair that he is 'not a Nazi or an antisemite.'
