Kanye West says speaking out about Trump support ‘represented overcoming fear’

The rapper has been outspoken about his views on the current US President, despite the backlash he has received

Kanye West has opened up his support for Donald Trump in a new interview, saying speaking out about it “represented overcoming fear.”

The rapper caused controversy earlier this year when he reiterated his positive views on the current US President and shared a photo of himself wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat. 

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (August 9), West spoke more about his endorsement of Trump and the reaction to it. “As a musician, African American, a guy out in Hollywood – all these different things – everyone around me tried to pick my candidate for me, and then told me every time I said I liked Trump that I couldn’t say it out loud or my career would be over, or I’d get kicked out the black community,” he said.

“Because blacks are supposed to have a monolithic thought, we can only be democrats,” he added.”

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He continued to discuss the issue, reminding Kimmel that he had given Trump his support in the past too. “I said it right before I went to the hospital and I expressed myself, and when I came out I had lost my confidence so I didn’t have the confidence to take on the world and the backlash,” he explained. “And it took me a year-and-a-half to have the confidence to stand up and put on the hat, no matter what the consequences were.

“What it represented to me is not about policies, because I’m not a politician like that, but it represented overcoming fear and doing what you felt no matter what anyone said, and saying, ‘You can’t bully me. Liberals can’t bully me. News can’t bully me. The hip-hop community can’t bully me,” he said.

“Because, at that point, if I’m afraid to be me, I’m no longer Ye. That’s what makes Ye. And I actually quite enjoy when people are mad at me about certain things.”

Elsewhere in the interview, West went silent when Kimmel challenged him and suggested his support of Trump was at odds with his infamous criticism of George W. Bush, who he had claimed  didn’t “care about black people.”

The pair also discussed the rapper’s comments about slavery being a “choice”. “What was awesome is the world got to really experience someone in a ramped-up state”, he said. “And that’s when you get these comments that just shoot out, almost like Tourette’s.”