by Sharelle Burt
February 16, 2024
Are we really surprised here?
Ye gave Republican former President Donald Trump his endorsement for the 2024 presidential election.
In a video circulating on social media, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, said Donald Trump will have his support in November 2024.
When someone asked the Chicago-born artist if he was still supporting Trump, he responded, “Yeah, of course, it’s Trump all day, what you talking about? You know what it is!”
The Late Registration rapper first pledged his allegiance to Trump after infamously appearing at the White House in 2018 sporting a red “Make America Great Again” hat. Lunch with the then-president turned into a bizarre press conference on appearances and deals.
“What I need ‘SNL’ and liberals to improve on is, if he don’t look good, we don’t look good. He has to be the freshest, the flyest, have the flyest planes. He has to look good!” Ye said. “When we make everything in China and not America, we’re cheating on our country.”
The “Jesus Walks” emcee’s tone changed in 2022 during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago, where Ye allegedly asked Trump to be his 2024 running mate. But things took a negative turn once Trump insulted Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, calling her “the World’s most overrated celebrity.”
Trump also accused Kardashian of voting for “crooked Joe.” According to 2023’s tell-all book Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party, Trump said he “did help with prisoner commutation, but only if deserving, and much more so for Kanye West than for Kim, who probably voted for Crooked Joe Biden, and look at the mess our Country is in now.”
Since then, Trump has been drowning in a slew of legal battles for defamation and sexual assault. Shortly after the release of his album Vultures I, a collaboration with singer and rapper Ty Dolla $ign, Ye was called out by the estate of the late Donna Summer and by rock legend Ozzy Osbourne for using their music samples without receiving clearance. Vultures 1 was removed from but later reinstated on iApple Music and Spotify.