Kanye Finally Answers Kimmel’s Trump Question in New Interview: Watch
Today, Kanye West appeared on 107.5 WGCI Chicago, where he spoke about a wide range of issues, including his support of Trump. During the interview (which you can watch an excerpt of below), Kanye was faced again with the question that Jimmy Kimmel asked him earlier this month: “You so famously and so powerfully said ‘George Bush doesn’t care about black people.’ It makes me wonder, what makes you think that Donald Trump does?”
After responding with silence on “Kimmel,” Kanye answered the question on the radio: “I feel that [Trump] cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this." He continued, “He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because he’s got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he can’t be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community. So it’s something he's gonna work towards, but we’re gonna have to speak to him.”
Elsewhere during the conversation, Kanye discussed recent tension with Drake. “It hits me in a really sensitive place,” he says, “Because you, like, hang around people and they come to your house and be around your family and this and that, and then they get mad about a beat and then send you purple demon emojis.” He goes on to clarify, “It ain’t no beef... We all got love for Drake. We understand that he got upset about [Pusha’s diss track, “The Story of Adidon”]. I feel that it was insensitive for [Drake] to, in any way, stress me out in any way after TMZ, while I’m in Wyoming healing, pulling all the pieces together, working on my music. And you know, we’ll reconcile that one day because we got to, because we got work to do, and these voices is just too powerful.”
When asked if he admonished Pusha-T for his diss track, Kanye says, “If [Drake] mentions something with Pusha, I can’t tell that man not to do what he gonna do.” He goes on, “Just don’t bring me into it because that’s not what I do.” An interviewer then asks if Kanye provided Pusha with information about Drake to use in his diss track, to which Kanye says, “No... I honestly don’t care that much, in all honesty. I just enjoy music, you know what I’m saying? I enjoy being with my family.”
Later, Kanye apologized for his comments on TMZ about slavery being a choice:
The thing about being called crazy, the biggest stigma that has to be broken is that you instantly get written off. But you might be the only one who knows what they’re talking about. Also what I wanna say to everyone listening right now—I have never really approached or addressed the slavery comment fully. And it’s not something for me to overly intellectualize. This is something about the fact that it hurt people’s feelings and the way that I presented that piece of information. I could present in a way more calm way, but I was ramped up. And I apologize. That happens sometimes when people are—I’m not blaming mental health, but I’m explaining mental health.
He continued:
I don’t know if I properly apologized for how the slavery comment made people feel. I’m sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment, and I’m sorry for people that felt let down by that moment. And I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through.
Later in the interview, Kanye broke into tears while discussing his falling out with streetwear designer Don C, saying that “the downfall of Kanye West” is related to the Just Don designer and Nike collaborator’s absence. “Don is actually in town right now, because I told him I need him to be there for me so shit like this don’t happen to me,” Kanye said before choking up.
