Obama playfully ribbed Kanye West about running for president in 2020

Kanye West
(Image credit: Getty Images)

At a San Francisco fundraiser with Kanye West on Saturday, President Obama desperately set out to prove how hip he is by joking about the rapper's potential 2020 bid. He even shared a little advice with Kanye, The Washington Post reports.

"You got to deal with strange characters who behave as if they are on a reality TV show," he said in a nod both to Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian, and Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

Obama's jokes were a far cry from his 2009 comments calling Yeezus a "jackass" on TV. This time around, the president even made fun of himself for sharing certain qualities with Kanye.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.