- Kanye West has responded to reports that he was left stumped by a question about Donald Trump on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, which aired on Thursday night.
- Kimmel asked the rapper whether he thought the president cared about black people or “any people at all.”
- West took a long pause before the host cut to an advertising break.
- Taking to Twitter, West said he “wasn’t given a chance to answer the question.”
- West upset people this year by declaring support for Trump, and, separately, suggesting that slavery was “a choice.”
Kanye West has responded to media reports that he was stumped on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” by one of the host’s questions about his support of President Donald Trump.
Kimmel asked the rapper if he thought Trump cared about black people or indeed “any people at all,” during his Thursday-night appearance.
West appeared to take a long pause, leaving Kimmel to cut to an advertising break.
West took to Twitter on Saturday, though, to say that he wasn’t stumped, he “wasn’t given a chance to answer the question.”
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1028428728496312320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
West continued by saying that, "The question was so important I took time to think," however, the rapper also went on to praise the "civil" dialogue that took place between him and the host.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1028428816257970176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It looks like there are no hard feelings between West and the talk show host as the rapper ended the stream of tweets by saying, "I appreciate Jimmy and his team. You guys are Jedi's [sic]."
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1028429067069009921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Much of the interview that aired on ABC centred on West's views of the president, of whom he has been a vocal supporter.
When asked about Trump's capabilities as president, the rapper instead riffed on the concept of love, saying 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."
In April, West posted a photo of himself wearing the Trump campaign's signature "Make America Great Again" hat, upsetting fans who oppose Trump and leading artists including Chance the Rapper to distance themselves from West.
West was hospitalized for exhaustion in November 2016, days after saying he "would have voted" for Trump, if he had voted, at a show in San Jose, California. That announcement was met with boos and a few claps from the audience.
He also landed in hot water this May when he said slavery "sounds like a choice." It prompted the TMZ host Van Lathan to say he was "unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something, to me, that's not real."
West said in a song that he told his wife, Kim Kardashian West, that she could leave him after the slavery comments but that she decided not to.
Responding to a question Thursday, he suggested that he could design the uniforms for Trump's newly announced Space Force ("I'm into designing"). He also told Kimmel that Trump "is a player" when asked whether he was ever concerned about his wife being alone in the Oval Office with Trump while discussing the release of Alice Marie Johnson from prison earlier this year.
Watch the full clip here: