Kanye West held a rally for his alleged 2020 campaign today at the Exquis Event Center in North Charleston, South Carolina and it was . . . bizarre:
liability waivers, temperature screenings, and the stage pic.twitter.com/z2W1cyQ7Ka
— maxbodach (@maxbodach) July 19, 2020
Kanye took the stage in what appeared to be a bulletproof vest and had 2020 shaved into his head:
he’s here folks pic.twitter.com/ELkT1QQjOa
— maxbodach (@maxbodach) July 19, 2020
And he scolded the crowd for making too much noise:
“we need absolute order” as he’s telling the crowd to be quiet
— maxbodach (@maxbodach) July 19, 2020
“Absolutely no clapping”:
It appears there are several hundred gathered for this event, where Kanye – wearing a security vest & with "2020" shaved into his head – is taking some questions & has admonished the crowd for applause.
"I understand that everyone's excited," West said. "Absolutely no clapping." pic.twitter.com/hzE7nvpi7Y
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) July 19, 2020
“The anti-Jeb Bush”:
The anti-Jeb Bush: Please absolutely don't clap. https://t.co/CaK8aHONUW
— Jim Antle (@jimantle) July 19, 2020
Elon Musk also got a shoutout:
@elonmusk gets a shoutout pic.twitter.com/2OT3MXOME8
— maxbodach (@maxbodach) July 19, 2020
But Kanye was, at times, very serious. Here he is talking about his past addiction issues:
talking about his addiction to painkillers, leading into larger discussion about overprescription of opioids pic.twitter.com/sQhd4KGHFn
— maxbodach (@maxbodach) July 19, 2020
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And he broke down in tears while telling a story about how his father told his mother to have an abortion:
Kanye West gets emotional while speaking about abortion in South Carolina:
"My Mom saved my life. My Dad wanted to abort me… There would have been no Kanye West."
"I almost killed my daughter." pic.twitter.com/jiGuODxAno
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 19, 2020
He thinks abortion should be legal, but the government should give every mom a million dollars for each baby:
.@kanyewest on abortion: "Abortion should be legal but the option for maximum increase should be available."
He says maximum increase would be the government giving every woman that has a baby a million dollars.
People laugh. He doesn't seem to be kidding. pic.twitter.com/zZXuasUUfm
— Eugene Daniels (@EugeneDaniels2) July 19, 2020
On guns:
On gun violence, @kanyewest says: "Shooting guns [is] fun."
He adds that if people stopped owning guns, other countries might invade and "you are going to be enslaved!" pic.twitter.com/BKkV2HXxlw
— Eugene Daniels (@EugeneDaniels2) July 19, 2020
Many are calling out the rapper/businessman for this take on Harriet Tubman:
Kanye West at his “campaign rally” in South Carolina: “Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.”
Loud groans from the audience, “come on man” can be heard pic.twitter.com/Q9g92UvZ27
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 19, 2020
He was responding to claims that he would take Black voters away from Joe Biden:
Kanye said it's racist to say he'll split the Black vote by running for president. Then he said Harriet Tubman didn't actually free slaves. She just had them go work for other white people
— Nolan D. McCaskill (@NolanDMcCaskill) July 19, 2020
He even had a heckler thrown out:
Kanye has a heckler thrown out of the venue pic.twitter.com/RdqGavS8hk
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 19, 2020
And this is how he finished:
Kanye just ended his rally saying "that was extremely good, that was extremely bad" and then leaving
— Mike Kalenderian (@ItsMikeKay) July 19, 2020
As we said earlier, bizarre.
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Editor’s note: We’ve corrected a typo.
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