Kanye West booed by Saturday Night Live audience after pro-Trump speech

Maya Oppenheim
Updated

Kanye West was booed by the audience after delivering a speech in favour of US president Donald Trump off air on Saturday Night Live (SNL).

The rapper, who was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” baseball hat, only launched into the tirade after his on-air performance, but comedian Chris Rock was in the audience and managed to capture some of it on Instagram.

West – who has voiced support for Mr Trump in the past – can be seen performing with the entire cast of SNL standing behind him on stage. Many rolled their eyes in frustration as he voiced support for the controversial and embattled leader.

“I wanna cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you’re feeling inside right now,” the 41-year-old rapped.

“The blacks want always Democrats … you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare … does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan,” he continued.

“There’s so many times I talk to, like, a white person about this and they say: ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, uh, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.”

In the background of the clip, Rock can be heard laughing and whispering: “Oh my God”, while others in the audience booed and shouted.

“The entire studio fell dead silent” as West continued, according to an eyewitness who spoke to Variety magazine.

West, who was a last-minute SNL replacement for Ariana Grande, performed his track “I Love It” with Lil Pump dressed in a Perrier bottle earlier in the evening.

West announced he is changing his stage name to Ye in a post on Twitter on Saturday.

“The being formally known as Kanye West,” he wrote. “I am YE.”

West has used the moniker at various times during his career and his eighth studio album which was released earlier this year was called Ye.

In April, West was pictured wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball hat in California, amid a backlash over his tweets in support of Mr Trump.

The rapper strolled out of his office in Calabasas, Los Angeles, after a day of firing off controversial tweets – over 80 – some of which voiced support for the US president.

A day earlier, the musician had posted a selfie wearing one of Mr Trump’s trademark hats before revealing it was signed by the president.

In the image – captioned: “We got love” – he is seen alongside two unidentified men.

After the selfie, West shared a close-up image of the autographed cap on Twitter, titling the photo: “My MAGA hat is signed.”