Getty/Brad Barket Kanye West pictured in November.
Rapper, producer, entrepreneur and controversial cultural commentator Kanye West claimed in a July 4 Tweet that he is running for president in 2020.
It wasn’t the first time the cultural icon and sometime-ally to President Donald Trump has claimed he was running for the highest office in the land, but his Tweet, which came just following Trump’s Salute to American Independence Day celebration, gathered more than 125,000 likes within 20 minutes of being posted.
Here’s what you need to know:
At 8:38 on Independence Day, West Tweeted That He Was Running, Saying America Must Trust in God and Build Its Future
West took to Twitter on July 4, Independence Day, and Tweeted, “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States.”
Reactions poured in expressing confusion, support and derision.
@kanyewest I think you might be a tiny bit late for this election
West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, posted her support later Saturday night with a simple American Flag emoji.
Heavy reached out to West’s reported publicist for further comment, but had not heard back as of late Saturday night.
West First Claimed He Would Run for President in 2015 & As Recently As Last November Said He Was Sitting Out Until 2024
GettyKanye West preforms
At the 2015 VMA Awards, West vowed to run for president in the 2020 cycle, CNN reported.
West told the crowd, “I don’t know what I finna lose after this. It don’t matter, though; It’s not about me. It’s about ideas. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth … And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”
And in November 2019, West told an audience of hundreds at the Fast Company Innovation Festival that he would run in 2024. West linked his promise to run for higher office with the jobs he said he would create on American soil with his shoe brand, Yeezy.
“When I run for president in 2024, we would’ve created so many jobs that I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk,” he said, according to a USA Today report.
West Has Expressed Support for President Trump Over the Past Few Years, Even Telling Trump in an Oval Office Meeting His MAGA Hat Gave Him Strength
GettyDonald Trump and Kanye West are expected to be at the LSU-Alabama game.
At an October 2018 Oval Office meeting with Trump, West gave a rambling statement of support for Trump’s economic policies and said he felt empowered when he wore one of the Trump campaign’s trademark red “Make America Great Again” hats, the Associated Press reported.
“They tried to scare me to not wear this hat,” West said, according to AP, adding, “This hat, it gives me power in a way … You made a Superman cape for me.”
Earlier in 2018, West had also tweeted his implicit support of controversial pro-Trump black commentator Candace Owens, saying, “I love the way [she] thinks.”
Getty/Sameer Al-DoumyCandace Owens delivers a speech during the “Convention de la Droite” in Paris in September 2019.
Months later, however, West distanced himself from Owens and her “Blexit” movement, billed as a collection of Black Democrats who left the party to support Trump.
Elon Musk Quickly Told West Via Twitter That He Has His ‘Full Support’
@kanyewest You have my full support!
Entrepreneur, philanthropist and love-him-or-hate-him cultural figure Elon Musk almost immediately tweeted, telling West, “You have my full support!”
Musk had been bombarded with Tweets this week attacking him for appearing in a photo with Jeffrey Epstein’s former companion Ghislaine Maxwell, and had hours before tweeted asking that users report accounts engaged in harassment, and an Independence Day greeting.
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Kanye West Claims, ‘I Am Running for President of the United States’