It takes Kanye West two days to head to Twitter and basically flaunt the fact that he still can’t explain what makes him think Trump cares about black people.
Jimmy Kimmel pressed Kanye West to explain his support of Trump during an interview that aired Thursday night on ABC.
“In literal terms, there are families being torn apart at the border of this country,” Kimmel said, adding:
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.
I mean, 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?
Then a camera focused on West, whose gaze, aimed high, became still, and whose arms were folded. No words emerged for a beat or two, and there was nervous laughter from the studio audience. Kimmel rescued the interview by saying, “Why don’t we take a break … “
Incredibly, it took West two days to respond to the controversy – tweeting that the question deserved consideration and that he wasn’t given enough time to respond.
“On Jimmy Kimmel we had a great time having a dialogue. I’m reading that I was stumped by a question. Let me clarify the click bait. I wasn’t stumped. I wasn’t given a chance to answer the question,” he tweeted, adding: “The question was so important I took time to think. And then I was hit with the let’s go to commercial break. That interview showed strong personalities with different opinions having a civil conversation.”
On Jimmy Kimmel we had a great time having a dialogue. I’m reading that I was stumped by a question. Let me clarify the click bait. I wasn’t stumped. I wasn’t given a chance to answer the question.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) August 11, 2018
The question was so important I took time to think. And then I was hit with the let’s go to commercial break. That interview showed strong personalities with different opinions having a civil conversation.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) August 11, 2018
Continuing, West tweeted tweeted: “I was so happy when I saw Jimmy walk out in the Yeezys. That was an olive branch. He lead with love. I appreciate Jimmy and his team. You guys are Jedi’s. much love.”
At the time of publication of this article it has been over 15 hours since West’s final tweet – yet tellingly, he still has not been able to answer Kimmel’s question: “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?”
As one might expect Twitter was quick to respond. Several comments invoked West’s controversial interview with entertainment company TMZ in May of this year. Business Insider reported on the incident at the time:
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years? That sounds like a choice. Like, you were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all … It’s like we’re mentally in prison,” West said, adding that he preferred the term “imprisoned” over “slavery,” because “slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks.”
“Prison is something that unites us as one race, blacks and whites as one race,” he continued. “That we’re the human race.”
- “You didn’t require any time to decide slavery was a choice, but a simple query about something you should’ve already considered (at length) stumps you? I hope you’ve convinced yourself, Kanye… because you haven’t fooled anyone else, that’s for certain.”
Several users called out the fact that West was unable to answer Kimmel’s question:
- “Clickbait? I watched that show. You had plenty of time to answer that question. and you still have not answered here, proving you didn’t have an answer.”
- “Did he answer it here? He’s had 48+hours. How long do you think he needs?”
There was a variety of other approaches as well:
- “It’s just that your pregnant pause was long enough to give birth to the whole Partridge Family.”
- “We watched it! You were clearly stumped. You could not answer a simple question without thinking long and hard about how to save face. Give it up! You were STUMPED.”
- “Maybe he was trying to borrow $50,000,000.00 from Trump. He has been known to ask for large loans from either Zuckerberg or Gates. He is not relevant and is just another performer in Trumps freak show. Both kanye and Kim are after photo op’s from anyone .”
As a side note, despite the fact that West was unable to answer Kimmel’s question – Trump tried to turn the incident into a victory for him and his ever-supportive base.
“Thank you to Kanye West and the fact that he is willing to tell the TRUTH,” he tweeted, following up by answering the question for himself: “One new and great FACT – African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in the history of our Country. So honored by this. Thank you Kanye for your support. It is making a big difference!”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login