Kanye West went on a pro-Trump rant in unaired SNL footage

Kanye West talks politics on SNL
(Image credit: Chris Rock/Screenshot)

Kanye West was the musical guest for Saturday Night Live's season opener, and at the end of the show, in a portion that was not aired, he donned a "Make America Great Again" hat and started talking politics. Segments of West's rant were captured and shared by people in the studio audience, including comedian Chris Rock.

West accused black Americans of being duped by a "Democratic plan" to "take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare." Addressing his vocal support of President Trump, West said if he were "concerned about racism [he] would have moved out of America a long time ago." He urged listeners to "follow your heart, and stop following your mind" and intimated he may run for public office in 2020.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.