In defending himself from criticism of over incendiary and sometimes false statements, musician Kanye West often resorts to some variation of the idea that he’s a “free thinker.” On April 21, shortly after posting the tweet that kicked off this interminable news cycle—“I love the way Candace Owens thinks,” he wrote, referring to a conservative black activist who believes President Donald Trump is America’s “savior”—he followed up with this:

only free thinkers — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 21, 2018

Several days later, not long before posting a selfie in a “Make America Great Again” hat, he wrote:

Free thinkers don't fear retaliation for your thoughts. The traditional thinkers are only using thoughts and words but they are in a mental prison. You are free. You've already won. Feel energized. Move in love not fear. Be afraid of nothing. — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018

And on Tuesday, after telling the celebrity news site TMZ that slavery was a “choice,” he responded as if he were a dissenting intellectual who was being punished for challenging the status quo. (He later deleted the tweet.)

TMZ, to its credit, challenged West’s defense. “Do you feel that I’m being free and and I’m thinking free?” West asked. Van Lathan, a senior producer TMZ, replied, “I actually don’t think you are thinking anything. While you are making music and being an artist and living the life that you’ve earned by being a genius, the rest of us in society have to deal with these threats to our lives. We have to deal with the marginalization that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice.” Writer Roxane Gay was even more blunt:

I don’t have the energy for nonsense but Kanye saying slavery was a choice reiterates my previous statements about how dangerous his trite, shallow ramblings are. He is not a free thinker. He is a free moron who doesn’t read. Do not @ me. — roxane gay (@rgay) May 1, 2018

A post shared by Candace Owens (@realcandaceowens) on Mar 8, 2018 at 5:11pm PST

Kanye, despite voicing right-wing ideas, has eschewed the label of “conservative” in favor of “free thinker.” This is a common trope in certain circles on the right, where reactionary ideas are recast as radical inquiry—and those who dare criticize such inquiry are accused of silencing free speech. Kim Kardashian, West’s wife, implicitly made this argument by tweeting that West is “a free thinker, is that not allowed in America?”