Kanye West says he is anti-abortion and anti-vaccination in presidential bid
Kanye West has said he is anti-abortion, anti-vaccination and pro-school prayer as he offered more details about his plans to run for president.
The rapper also revealed he was ill with coronavirus earlier this year but is sceptical about a potential vaccine, calling it "the mark of the beast".
West said he would run for president this year in a tweet on July 4, writing: "We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States."
West has already missed the deadline to appear on the ballot in a number of US states, but has now claimed he could make a case to be added as a latecomer due to coronavirus.
To stage a bid for the White House, West needs to register with the Federal Election Commission, present a campaign platform and collect enough signatures to get on the November ballot.
We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States 🇺🇸! #2020VISION
— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020
He had previously been a high-profile supporter of Donald Trump, even wearing a red Make America Great Again baseball cap, but in a rambling and lengthy interview with Forbes, he said: "I am taking the red hat off, with this interview."
He insisted he has lost confidence in the president, saying: "It looks like one big mess to me. I don't like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker."
West also said he envisions a White House organisational model based on the secret country of Wakanda in the Marvel comics and film Black Panther.
He said: "A lot of Africans do not like the movie (Black Panther) and representation of themselves in... Wakanda. But I'm gonna use the framework of Wakanda right now because it's the best explanation of what our design group is going to feel like in the White House.
"That is a positive idea: you got Kanye West, one of the most powerful humans — I'm not saying the most because you got a lot of alien level superpowers and it's only collectively that we can set it free."
He said he would run under the banner of the Birthday party, "because when we win it's everybody's birthday", adding that his campaign slogan is "YES!".
"Not YEP, not YEAH. YES. YES. YES."
Discussing a cure for coronavirus, he said: "We pray. We pray for the freedom. It's all about God. We need to stop doing things that make God mad."
However, he added: "It's so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralysed... so when they say the way we're going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I'm extremely cautious.
"That's the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can't cross the gates of heaven. I'm sorry when I say they, the humans that have the Devil inside them.
"The saddest thing is that we all won't make it to heaven, that there'll be some of us that do not make it. Next question."
Health experts have frequently spoken about the damage anti-vaxxers are causing to public health.
Kanye West says he's done with Trump—opens up about White House bid, damaging Biden and everything in between https://t.co/i61oxwFDC4 by @RandallLanepic.twitter.com/ebleDW1aK1
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 8, 2020
Asked about his thoughts on abortion, he said: ""I am pro-life because I'm following the word of the bible."
Asked about prayer in schools, he said: "Reinstate in God's state, in God's country, the fear and love of God in all schools and organisations and you chill the fear and love of everything else, so that was a plan by the Devil to have our kids committing suicide at an all-time high by removing God to have murders in Chicago at an all-time high because the human beings working for the Devil removed God and prayer from the schools.
"That means more drugs, more murders, more suicide."
West's plans for a presidential run have been criticised by some as a distraction that could harm presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and and help re-elect Mr Trump.
West said he does not have a problem with taking black votes from Mr Biden: "I'm not denying it, I just told you. To say that the black vote is Democratic is a form of racism and white supremacy."
