Kanye West launches presidential campaign with unorthodox rally
Kanye West officially launched his campaign for 2020 US presidential election last night with an unorthodox rally in Charleston, South Carolina, that saw the rapper deliver an address on theology, abortion and international trade.
West, who took to the stage in a bulletproof vest with “2020” shaved into his head, said abortion should be legal but that “everybody that has a baby [should] get a million dollars”.
The rapper pedalled back on comments made in an interview with Forbes magazine last month, in which he stated that he was “pro-life”, telling the crowd that he “understands” why victims of rape or parents unable to support multiple children would consider abortion, but insisted: “God will make a way.”
“The only thing that can free us is by obeying the rules that were given to us for a promised land,” added West. “Abortion should be legal because guess what? The law is not by God anyway, so what is legality?”
Against a background of gospel music, the rapper spoke about the “divine intervention” that caused his wife, reality star Kim Kardashian West, to abandon West’s suggestion for her to terminate the pregnancy of their first child North West.
“I was having the rapper’s lifestyle,” he said. “I was sitting up in Paris, and I had my leather pants on … and I had my laptop up and I got all of my creative ideas … And the screen went black and white and God said, ‘if you f*** with my vision I’m going to f*** with yours’.
He added: “I almost killed my daughter… even if my wife [Kim Kardashian West] were to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world, even when I didn’t want to.”
West cried when describing how he was nearly aborted by his parents, saying that “My mum saved my life. My dad wanted to abort me.”
“There would have been no Kanye West, because my dad was too busy,” he added.
The rapper refused to use a microphone, and repeatedly had to tell the several hundred-strong crowd to be quiet so they could hear him.
West’s speech frequently touched on his Christian roots, with the rapper saying: “We are all equal in God’s eyes. Sometimes people are controlled by demons, sometimes people are controlled by the environment that we are in but we are all God’s people, there [are] no bad people. There are lost people, but we are all God’s people.”
He also gave an impromptu monologue on 19th century abolitionist Harriet Tubman, whom he claimed “never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people”.
Tubman was born into slavery in 1822, but managed to escape from a Maryland plantation aged 27. She then returned to the South to rescue other slaves on the network of routes and safe houses known as the “underground railroad”, risking her own life to lead people to freedom.
West’s comments about Tubman prompted shouts of disapproval from some of those in the crowd.
The 43-year-old rapper is running as a candidate in the US presidential. Election in November for his self-styled “Birthday Party”.
The rally in Charleston last night appeared to stub out claims by West’s campaign team last week suggesting he had dropped out of the presidential election.
Steve Kramer, a get-out-the-vote specialist working with West, told Intelligencer that the rapper would no longer be contesting the election, saying: “He’s out”.
The rapper, who is said to have a net worth of around $1.3bn (£1.05bn), missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in many states. It is still unsure whether he can get enough signatures to qualify in others.
West’s last-minute bid for the White House, launched on American Independence Day on 4 July, has been met with claims that the move is little more than a promotional stunt.
In January last year, West tweeted “2024”, in what was widely seen as a sign that he would run for the White House that year.
The 21-time Grammy Award winner has in the past repeatedly declared his support for Trump and the Republican party, having visited Trump in the White House several times to discuss prison reform, and is often spotted touting Trump’s famous “Make America Great Again” cap.
Last week West qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot — the first state where he met the requirements before the deadline. However, in order to appear on South Carolina’s ballot he needs to collect 10,000 signatures by noon local time today.
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