Kanye West announcing he’s running for President, was one of the biggest shocks of 2020. During an interview with Forbes, Ye’ opens up about his decision to run, why he no longer supports President Donald Trump. He also reveals he had COVID-19 back in February.
“I am taking the red hat off, with this interview,” he said, letting his supporters know that he is no longer on board with Trump. Aside from previously supporting Trump, many people were wondering if he’d be running as a Democrat or a Republican. The answer is neither. He’ll be running under the “Birthday Party” banner “because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday”. He also already chosen his vice presidential candidate, Michelle Tidball, a preacher from Wyoming. “I would run as a Republican if Trump wasn’t there,” he said. “I will run as an independent if Trump is there.”
Ye’ hasn’t officially filed anything to declare his candidacy. “I’m speaking with experts, I’m going to speak with Jared Kushner, the White House, with [Joe] Biden.”
Kanye also spoke about Joe Biden, addressing many peoples concerns that he will take away from the Black votes and those of young voters, hindering Biden’s campaign which would give Trump an easy win. “A lot of times just like political parties they feel all Blacks have to be Democrat. This man, Joe Biden, said if you don’t vote for me, then you are not Black. Well, act like we didn’t hear that? We act like we didn’t hear that man say that? That man said that. It’s a rap. We gonna walk, all the people.”
He continued, “That is a form of racism and white supremacy and white control to say that all Black people need to be Democrat and to assume that me running is me splitting the vote. All of that information is being charged up on social media platforms by Democrats.”
The topic of police brutality came up, as well as the death of George Floyd, “one of my to-do lists is to end police brutality. The police are people too. To end laws that don’t make sense,” Kanye said. “Like, in the George Floyd case, there was a Black guy that went to jail and it was his first day on the force. So if it’s your first day on the force and it’s your training day, and this OG accredited cop with 18 violations already starts filing out, are you going to jump in front of that person and lose your job that same day? Especially in this climate when 40,000 people lost their jobs? This man was put in a position where—and also he probably didn’t realize that the cop was going to take it that far, he probably was so scared, in shock, paralyzed, like so many Black people. I’m one of the few Black people that would speak openly like this.”
Kanye makes it clear that he is not running for president as a publicity stunt for his upcoming album, as he will be giving it away for “free.” He also shared that he tested positive for COVD-19 back in February.
Read the full interview here.