Kanye West’s guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Thursday night was nothing short of what people have come to expect from the self-proclaimed “provocative” rapper.
Kimmel’s questions began as light-hearted banter, and West, who’s known for being loquacious, answered Kimmel’s questions in a reflective, calm manner. It was the complete opposite of the seemingly crazed ranting he did on a TMZ appearance in May where he stated, “slavery was a choice.”
Of course, he continued to defend his controversial support for President Donald Trump. To the dismay of his fans, West first announced his support by tweeting a photo of himself wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Kimmel referenced West’s wife, Kim Kardashian’s, visit with Trump to request clemency for first-time drug offender, Alice Johnson. He, jokingly, asked: “Were you ever concerned about leaving her alone in the Oval Office with him”
It seemed to be an obvious question given Trump’s alleged womanizing past.
“Well, he is a player,” said West to laughter and applause into the first commercial break.
The 20-minute interview, initially, went well. But upon returning from the break, Kimmel heated things up by his next set of questions. Kanye answered honestly about his decision to publicly support Trump.
He stated: “I didn’t have the confidence to take on the world and possible backlash. 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 and what it represented to me it’s not about policies ’cause 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, they can’t bully me. 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 actually are mad at me about certain things.”
Kanye, then, posed the question: “When I see people just even like go at the president, it’s like, why not try love”
Kimmel, visibly taken aback by West’s statement, denied that the matter was so simple. And at that point, he asked West the thought-provoking question that, ultimately, ended the interview.
“There are literally families being torn apart as a result of what this president is doing, and I think that we cannot forget that whether we like his personality or not, his actions are really what matter,” he said. “You’ve so famously and so powerfully said ‘George W. Bush doesn’t care about Black people,’ it makes me wonder what makes you think that Donald Trump does, or any people at all”
West pensively sat, but he never responded to the question. An uncomfortable silence ensued and Kimmel, finally, cut to commercial. West was, noticeably, absent after Kimmel returned back from the break.
