Hip-hop superstar and fashion designer Kanye West on Saturday reiterated his support for President Donald Trump, declaring that it’s “mental slavery” for one’s political views to be formed by race.
West performed his weekly Sunday Service in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attracted between 7,000 and 10,000 people, according to Desert News. While addressing the crowd, the rapper praised President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, who oversaw the abolition of slavery in the United States. “That’s the Republican Party that freed the slaves,” he pointed out.
He then hit out at those who have criticized his support for President Trump, saying: “You black, so you can’t like Trump? I ain’t never made a decision based only on my color. That’s a form of slavery, mental slavery.”
The rapper’s performance coincided with the 189th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
West made headlines last year when he visited the White House and delivered an enthusiastic 10-minute monologue in the Oval Office as he sat across from President Trump.
“Let’s stop worrying about the future. All we really have is today,” he stated, before adding: “Trump is on his hero’s journey right now, and he might not have expected to have a crazy motherf—er like Kanye West.”
“I love this guy right here,” West, donning a red “Make America Great Again” hat, said before giving President Trump a long hug.
In turn, the president praised West’s remarks, calling them “pretty impressive.”
“That was quite something,” he added.
West also made waves during last year’s season premiere of Saturday Night Live in which he defended President Trump, explaining “blacks weren’t 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,” West said. “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.”