- Kanye West announced on July 4 that he planned to run for president of the United States.
- He missed a bunch of Federal Election Commission deadlines.
- Now, his adviser says Kanye’s out.
Update: July 15, 2020
Political adviser Steve Kramer just told New York Magazine’s The Intelligencer that Kanye West is no longer running for president. “He’s out,” Kramer said.
Kanye apparently hired Kramer to help him get on the ballot through signature gathering in a couple of states, although as we reported before, Kanye had already missed a bunch of key FEC deadlines.
Original: July 5, 2020
In news you didn’t expect (or want, let’s be honest), Kanye West announced in a tweet on July 4 that he’s apparently running for president of the United States.
“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision, and building our future,” he tweeted. “I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION” Elon Musk even replied saying, “You have my full support!”
The tweet is obviously getting a lot of attention. It already has almost a million Likes and 500,000 retweets. One of those retweets is from Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian. Kim added an American flag emoji showing her support.
Kanye’s declaration comes with a lot of questions: Is he really going to start a campaign? Is this legit? With all things Kanye, it’s kind of hard to tell. But as Elle correctly pointed out, he’s missed a bunch of seriously important Federal Election Commission deadlines in several states, so do what you will with that information.
This isn’t exactly Kanye’s first time making political statements though. At the 2015 Video Music Awards, he said he would run in 2020. He later showed his support for Donald Trump at a White House visit in 2018.
During the visit, he made some eyebrow-raising remarks. “They tried to scare me to not wear this hat, my own friends, but this hat it gives me, it gives me power,” he said. “You know, my dad and my mom separated, so I didn’t have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I’m married to a family that, you know—not a lot of male energy going on. It’s beautiful though.”
Well. There you go.
