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Kanye West hosted his first presidential campaign rally on Sunday. It was an emotional rally where he cried while talking about how he had almost encouraged his daughter’s abortion. He also talked about Harriet Tubman and claimed she “never actually freed the slaves.” He later said in his speech that he was referring to “Black iconography being used by white organizations.” Read on to see the videos and learn more about what happened.
During the rally, West told the crowd that “Well Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she had the slaves go work for other white people.” People in the crowd sound like they are groaning in response, although it’s hard to make out exactly what they are saying. Here’s a video of that moment.
On Twitter, someone wrote that they immediately left after that statement. Twitter user “Toe Knee” wrote: “Kanye said this and I left immediately. I went for a laugh and I got one. But when it got disrespectful for me it was over.”
You can also hear the person recording the video and saying that they’re “leaving right now” right after West made the statement.
West later addressed his Tubman statement again, which you can watch in the second video below at about 39 seconds in.
West says: “That Harriet Tubman thing is… I’m sick of this Black iconography being used by white organizations for us to look up to and say, ‘This is us.’ …”
He then talked about a trademark that he shared with Adidas, and talked about how Adidas is going to own less of it moving forward.
On Twitter, John Romant wrote: “He meant that she freed the slaves but into the hands of another master, the government. I’m pretty sure that’s what he was trying to get across. You know Kanye talks like that so why bust his balls for speaking truth?”
And Twitter user Cheryl replied: “JFC now we have people telling us what Kanye meant…”
This was one of many moments that went viral during West’s campaign rally. He also talked about how his mother had saved his life when she wouldn’t have an abortion like his dad requested. He followed that by talking about how he “almost killed my daughter” while crying, saying that he had considered encouraging Kim Kardashian to have his first daughter aborted.
West later said that while he still did not want to make abortion illegal, he wanted to find other ways to encourage people to not have abortions.
As for the Tubman comment, Twitter had a lot of reactions to that moment. Here are a few tweets that were shared.
Kanye West just said Harriet Tubman never actually freed slaves, she had them work for other white people.
The crowd got quiet.
Harriet Tubman:
t.co/sqdggWS41l
Harriet Tubman as soon as Kanye West steps foot in heaven..
West talked about a wide range of topics during his rally. He spoke about once being addicted to Percocet after being prescribed the medication after having plastic surgery. He also told the crowd that they don’t see the “real power” behind celebrities, and celebrities don’t actually have that much power at all.
He also spoke a lot about his Christian faith, saying, “We are all equal in God’s eyes. sometimes people are controlled by demons, sometimes people are controlled by the environment they are in, but we are all God’s people.”
He said that as soon as he said Jesus’ name out loud, “He gave me increase.”
West also talked about how being on stage and addressing the topics that he spoke on was putting his life in danger. He wore what appeared to be a bulletproof vest, and allowed some people to stand near him and talk when they had concerns or disagreements.
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