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Rapper Kanye West starred in his first campaign act on Sunday after announcing his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, a peculiar rally in South Carolina in which he proposed to award a million dollars to those who have a baby and generated controversy with some comments on slavery.
West, whose announcement that he would run for the November election this month raised a lot of guesswork as to whether he was simply seeking publicity or even favoring reelection options for US President Donald Trump launched his fledgling campaign in the town of North Charleston.
Dressed in a bulletproof vest with the word “security” written in front, the rapper gave a disjointed speech to hundreds of people, who were required to wear a mask to protect themselves from possible covid-19 infections.
Asked from the hearing about abortion, West began to cry as he recalled how his father wanted to terminate his mother’s pregnancy and that he thought of doing the same thing when his wife, Kim Kardashian, she became pregnant. “I almost killed my daughter,” he said.
The rapper said he believes abortion should be legal, but he proposed something called “maximum increase,” which would consist of giving “a million dollars or something like that” to women who have a baby to discourage them from terminating their pregnancy.
West also sparked controversy, stating that the famous African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who participated in a clandestine network to remove dozens of blacks from the southern United States in the 19th century, “never actually freed slaves” but “made they went to work for other white people. ”
An African American Twitter user, identified as Toe Knee, captured that moment on video from the rally and wrote: “Kanye said this and I left immediately. I came to laugh a little and I did it. But when he started disrespecting, it was over for me. ”
The winner of 21 Grammys also spoke out against increased gun control by claiming that “shooting pistols is fun” and that if people stopped having guns other countries could invade the United States and “enslave” its population.
West, who would compete as an independent in the November elections, already managed to register on the Oklahoma state ballots this month, and his stop in South Carolina aimed to collect signatures to compete in that territory as well.
It is unclear what future the rapper’s campaign may have, which until just a few weeks ago fervently supported Trump, because the registration period has already expired in half a dozen territories and the requirements are complicated in others.
But West already registered his election campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission last week, naming his party BDY – short for “birthday” – because, he told Forbes, “when I win” the election “It will be everyone’s birthday.”
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