Rapper Kanye West signalled he no longer supports US President Donald Trump and said he had entered the presidential race to win it, in an interview published on Wednesday.
Kanye West gave an interview to Forbes magazine and outlined the reasons why he’s no longer wearing a red “MAGA” hat.
“I am taking the red hat off, with this interview,” West said.
Kanye West, previously a vocal supporter of Trump, announced on Saturday that he’s running for presiden in 2020.
“I am taking the red hat off, with this interview,” West told Forbes, referring to Trump’s trademark red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. “Like anything I’ve ever done in my life, I’m doing (this) to win,” he added.
He told the magazine he will run under a new banner – the Birthday Party. West and his reality TV star wife Kim Kardashian West have visited Trump in the White House.
West plans to run for president for the Birthday Day, because, he explained “when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”
He also dismissed the idea that he was trying to split the vote in Trump’s favor, saying such suggestions were “a form of racism and white supremacy and white control to say that all Black people need to be Democrat and to assume that me running is me splitting the vote.”
The rapper told Forbes he had been ill with COVID-19 in February, and would be suspicious of any vaccines developed to prevent the infection. Repeating false theories that link vaccines with child developmental disorders, he said: “So when they say the way we’re going to fix COVID is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious.”
“That’s the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven,” he added.
West appears to accept that he may not win this year, saying: “Let’s see if the appointing is at 2020 or if it’s 2024—because God appoints the president. If I win in 2020 then it was God’s appointment. If I win in 2024 then that was God’s appointment.”
