Rapper-turned-Gospel-music-producer Kanye West refuses to let the media have the final word on his support for President Donald Trump.
The 42-year-old musician and clothing designer has generated his fair share of controversy in the last year, primarily for his support of the current president (someone many in Hollywood wouldn’t get caught dead praising,) and for turning his artistic ambitions to the message of Jesus Christ.
Hip hop culture outlet XXL reported how Kanye feels about being such a polarizing figure and his thoughts were quite clear on the subject. Mr. West claimed it’s just that people can’t handle a famous African American supporting a Republican president. “I’m a black guy in a red [MAGA] hat, can you imagine?”
Of course, the identity politics vanguards of the far-left can’t handle West’s shift to a different set of values than theirs. Many have shunned Mr. West as an artist, though he has been almost universally loved within the music community for almost two decades now, and the musician likened it to discrimination he faced earlier in life.
West claimed, “It reminded me of how I felt as a Black guy before I was famous, when I would walk in a restaurant and people would look at you like you were going to steal something.” He recounted how people would tell him it wasn’t his place to express a political opinion as a Trump hat-wearing Republican.
“This is your place, 'Ye, don’t talk about apparel. This is your place, 'Ye, you’re Black, so you’re a Democrat,'" he said, miming those in his life who tried to steer him with political peer pressure.
It’s hard not to see Kanye’s claim with media coverage he’s received in recent years. When he met with President Trump in 2018 to discuss making political inroads with the African American community, pundits like NBC’s Hoda Kotb called West’s words with the president “bizarre.” MSNBC referred to the meeting between the two as “bonkers,” “crazy” and an “assault on our White House.”
But when Kanye unfairly claimed Republican President George Bush “doesn’t care about black people” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the media loved it. ABC’s Terry Moran referred to West as “cultural force to be reckoned with,” and NBC’s Matt Lauer used the critique to grill the former president in a 2010 interview.
Today many in the entertainment community can’t stand Kanye and his political affiliations. Most recently, TV show like Hulu’s High Fidelity referred to Kanye disparagingly as the “guy who raps in a MAGA hat” and tied his support for the President Trump to his "mental health" issues. Kanye claims to suffer from bi-polar disorder.
But as XXL reported, Kanye says it’s just 'cause he’s “out of their control.” He thinks for himself: “Anything I do, three times a year, people say, ‘Whoa, that’s the end. That’s the last we’ll see of him!’ People say I’m out of control. I’m not out of control. I’m out of their control.”
And we all know how much the left hates those who refuse to think like them.
