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Kanye West slammed for attacking Issa Rae after SNL joke, Internet asks rapper 'to pray for himself, then Trump'

In an 'SNL' segment, Rae said, 'Kanye? F**k him!' to which the rapper replied, 'My heart goes out to Issa Rae. I’m praying for her and her family'

Kanye West, who has been promoting himself as one of the candidates of the 2020 presidential elections, took to Twitter to respond to a joke made about him on the latest episode of 'Saturday Night Live'. The 'SNL' episode, hosted by actress Issa Rae with Justin Bieber as the musical guest, featured a segment about the upcoming 2020 elections in which Kanye's name was mentioned. The segment, in which Issa played a lawyer for the NAACP, was featured on Kenan Thompson's made-up morning talk show 'Your Voice Chicago'.

During the skit, Issa said she's "voting for everybody Black" – a reference to the actress' viral comment from the 2017 Emmys where she said she was "rooting for everybody Black". However, before the end of the skit, Kenan's character said, "when we come back, we'll talk about the presidential race between Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kanye West" to which Rae's character replied, "Kanye? F**k him!" along with an eye roll.

Responding to the 'SNL' joke, Kanye took to Twitter and said, "I've always said 'SNL' uses Black people to hold other Black people back. My heart goes out to Issa Rae. I’m praying for her and her family. I know that the twenty years of service that I’ve paid in the entertainment field has furthered our ability to be more successful." Kanye's tweets were accompanied by a screenshot of Issa Rae's Google search landing page, in Spanish.

As soon as Kanye tweeted, people across the micro-blogging site started to talk about the issue. One user, accusing Kanye of attacking black women, tweeted, "Talib Kweli got banned from Twitter for harassing Black women. Tory Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion. Kanye West is attacking Issa Rae. Black women are exposed to both racism and sexism. We should be protecting Black women," while another, more angrily, said, "What the actual f**k, why do small membered brothers always follow whitey harassing Black women, I hope Issa Rae punch Kanye in his f***ing mouth! F***ing asshole get some help. Stay on your meds, psycho! This is too much!! WTF!" An Issa fan simply added, "Kanye is a joke. Issa Rae is amazing. Next!"

Another Twitter user defended Issa and wrote, "Issa Rae was acting, and, even if she wasn't, her opinion is well noted. I believe out of the hateful rhetoric Trump spreads around the world, especially among Americans; with his racists, conning, and lying fraudulent demeanor, Kanye needs to pray for himself, and then for Trump!" Attacking Kanye's past comments and painting him as a hater of black women, a user tweeted, "Kanye uplifted Nat Turner, but said Harriet Tubman didn’t really free the slaves. Kanye instantly addressed Issa Rae, but crickets for black male celebs who speak about him. Kanye kicked a black woman out of his rally for "challenging" him and turned around & praised a white girl."

Talking about Kanye's comment about furthering the ability of black people to be more successful in the entertainment industry, a user commented, "Kanye didn’t pave the way for black people in rap. He didn’t pave the way for black people in fashion. He didn’t even pave the way for black people in politics. I’m trying to figure out how Kanye thinks he paved the way for Issa Rae in TV/Film?"

The 'On God' rapper announced he was running for president on July 4, 2020. He has since campaigned on Twitter and encouraged voters to write his name on ballots where it does not already appear. Issa, on the other hand, created, co-wrote, and starred in the HBO television series 'Insecure'. For the aforementioned show, she has received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.