Kanye West compared celebrity troubles to civil rights fight in wedding speech

Kanye West used his wedding speech to compare the troubles facing modern celebrities to the injustices suffered by African-Americans during the fight for civil rights in the 1960s.

The rapper married reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Florence, Italy in May (14), and he has now revealed he turned his wedding toast into an impassioned plea for the rights of the famous.

West compared the issues facing his family, including being photographed regularly and appearing in gossip columns, to the discrimination against black citizens in the early 20th century and the civil rights fight throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The Stronger hitmaker tells GQ magazine, "What I talked about in it (my wedding speech) was the idea of celebrity, and celebrities being treated like blacks were in the '60s, having no rights, and the fact that people can slander your name. I said that in the toast. And I had to say this in a position where I, from the art world, am marrying Kim. And how we're going to fight to raise the respect level for celebrities so that my daughter can live a more normal life. She didn't choose to be a celebrity. But she is. So I'm going to fight to make sure she has a better life."

West went on to insist mocking stars is also a form of discrimination and he is rallying against it, adding, "I'm fighting (for my rights) with the way I line my words up together and the way I place a sweater on top of a T-shirt... People know I'm smart. And people know that, whether it's SNL (Saturday Night Live) or Jimmy Kimmel (TV show), it's a trend to take the p**s out of celebrity - just as much of a trend as wearing a grey hoodie or driving a Prius."