• Elon Musk still backs Kanye West running for president, despite a tweet he deleted in which he appeared to waver in his support.
  • The Tesla and SpaceX CEO told Page Six that he hasn’t dropped his support for West’s candidacy, though he thinks “2024 would be better than 2020.”
  • West announced on July 4 that he planned to run for president, and Musk quickly tweeted his support.
  • Soon after, West participated in a wild Q&A with Forbes in which he made incorrect claims about vaccines and Planned Parenthood.
  • Musk tweeted in response that he and West “may have more differences of opinion than I anticipated” but quickly deleted the tweet.
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Elon Musk still supports Kanye West’s bid for the presidency, but he thinks West would be better off in the 2024 election.

Musk told Page Six’s Mara Siegler that he still backs West, despite a deleted tweet in which he appeared to waver in his support. West participated in a Q&A with Forbes last week in which he called vaccines “the mark of the beast” and said Planned Parenthood was placed in cities by white supremacists to “do the Devil’s work.” After the piece was published, Musk tweeted – then deleted – that he and West “may have more differences of opinion than I anticipated.”

But Musk is now doubling down on his support for West, telling Page Six “Kanye explained afterward some of the reasoning behind why he said what he said” and that it “makes more sense than many people, including me, realized.”

He told Page Six that he hasn’t dropped his support for West, “although I think 2024 would be better than 2020.”

West announced on July 4 that he planned to run for president, and Musk tweeted moments later that West had his "full support." It's unclear how serious West's plans are, given that he has already missed the deadline in four states to file as an independent candidate, and nine other states have deadlines in July.

Musk and West have been friends since at least 2011, when the musician and fashion designer toured a SpaceX facility with Musk. Since then, they've publicly praised each other's work, bought each other's products, and attended parties and events together. Days before West announced he wanted to run for president, he tweeted a photo of him and Musk at Musk's house, with the Tesla boss even donning shoes from West's Yeezy line for the occasion.

West told Forbes that the pair have been talking about West running for president "for years." He said Musk was advising his campaign and that he wanted the Tesla and SpaceX CEO the head up the space program.