Kanye West says 'Harriet Tubman didn't free slaves', Internet hopes his 'manic' phase passes soon
Donald Trump seems to have competition from fellow presidential candidate rapper Kanye West when it comes to controversial statements. The musician started his campaign rally on July 19 at North Charleston's Exquis Event Center. West had announced his candidature via Twitter on July 4.
Politico reported that West filed an official statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission last week using The Birthday Campaign (BDY) as his political party affiliation. He courted controversy when he stated, "Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people. The Grammy award winner appeared to be scattered – jumping from one topic to another.
At one point, West broke down and shared that he and wife Kim Kardashian West had considered an abortion (currently they have four children) and how his own father wanted to have him aborted. "There would have been no Kanye West… because my dad was too busy!” West can be seen sobbing. He claimed that God reached out to him when the couple was contemplating abortion. According to him, “God said, if you f*** with my vision I f*** with yours. And I called my girlfriend and said, 'We're going to have this child.'" He added further that if his wife divorces him after this speech, she is the one who bought their first born North to this world even when he did not want to. He can be heard saying, “I almost killed my daughter."
He went off track while discussing most topics — from social media to religion. According to a Variety magazine report, the reaction of the crowd — "registered guests only" — ranged from sympathy to disgust at various points. After West’s comments about Tubman, who is credited with freeing hundreds of slaves via the Underground Railroad, one crowd member groaned, “Come on, man,” while a woman can be heard saying, “Okay we’re leaving now.” West then went on to discuss how the National Basketball Association and Universal Music Group have no Black owners.
There were even other rules at the rally. As per the same Variety report, West demanded “absolute silence and absolute order” and even asked audience members to point out anyone they heard talking. He scolded the crowd for clapping at one point and had another audience member removed for an unclear reason. The report also states, it was held in a small room before what appeared to be a couple of hundred people, all attendees were asked to sign a Covid-19 liability release form, social distance and wear a mask.
But social media was more concerned about his mental health. One user tweeted, “Kanye is obviously being plagued with paranoia and issues from his past. For now, he shouldn’t be running for president or even making many public statements. He should be getting legitimate mental help and dedicated care." Another said, "He put himself in this position. I wish he had dropped out when it was rumored he did so. He is not presidential material. He is a broken man still fighting his childhood demons. I wish him health." A user tweeted: "Like many creative people who struggle with mental health, I’m guessing he feels medication dulls his creative work. If we had any real compassion we would ignore this. Hopefully this manic episode will pass without harm."
In another bizarre incident, #Kayne began trending when most people misspelled his name. A user tweeted, “LMFAO Kayne is trending cause people can’t spell Kanye.” Another said, “---- out here got kayne trending cuz they can’t spell Kanye lmao twitter really stupid.”
Kanye in the past has said that he is bipolar and often disdains medication. Reportedly, he was hospitalized for stress and exhaustion and placed on psychiatric hold after several onstage rants during his Saint Pablo tour in late 2016.