Kanye West has opened up about the loss of his mother, Donda West, in a preview of David Letterman’s series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.”
Kanye West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, shared a snippet of the clip on Twitter where West shared a touching memory of his late mother. Donda West passed away in 2007 at the age of 58 of heart disease after complications from a plastic surgery procedure.
“This would have been the funnest time of her life, to have those kids running around that house and being able to go and buy them toys,” West told Letterman.
Kanye opens up to David Letterman like you’ve never seen him on My Next Guest, streaming on @Netflix May 31. pic.twitter.com/44HG9skLXV
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 24, 2019
The camera pans to the audience, where his wife can be seen smiling.
“I remember my mother bought me a bear that was multicolored, and I was very into [Japanese artist] Takashi Murakami at the time of [my] third album, ‘Graduation,’ so she bought it and said ‘That kinda feels like Murakami.’ And then I was sorta like ‘I don’t want that, it ain’t no Takashi Murakami bear,” he said.
After the laughter died down, West continued.
“And then she passed a few weeks after and I did everything I could to find that bear and place that bear on top of all the Takashi Murakami stuff I had in the house,” he said.
West said that to this day, his mother remains an important part of his life.
“You know, she’s here with us,” he said. “She’s guiding us.”
In addition to opening up about his family, West also reaffirmed his support for President Donald Trump, despite Letterman challenging his support.
“This is like my thing with Trump—we don’t have to feel the same way, but we have the right to feel what we feel,” West told Letterman, according to The Daily Beast.
He added that when he wears his “Make America Great Again” hat, he’s not making a statement “about politics,” but rather, it’s a way to “break the stigma around showing support for Trump,” according to The Daily Beast.
“So if I see a person that I admire talking about [how] Donald Trump can think whatever he does,” Letterman said. “I wonder if those thoughts, indirectly, aren’t hurting people who are already being hurt?”
West fired back that Trump supporters are being “treated like enemies of America because that’s what they felt.”
“Have you ever been beat up in your high school for wearing the wrong hat?” Kanye West asked during the interview. “Liberals bully people who are Trump supporters!” he said.
“I have a friend who told me that my power is my influence,” the 41-year-old Grammy-winner added. “And I said my power is my ability to not be influenced.”
.@kanyewest: “This is like my thing with Trump—we don’t have to feel the same way, but we have the right to feel what we feel.” https://t.co/7TEIYOSWHB
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 24, 2019
West has never been silent about his support for Trump.
“You don’t have to agree with Trump, but the mob can’t make me not love him,” West wrote on Twitter last year. “We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.”
You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.
— ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018
Last year, West met with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss prison reform, mental health, and race relations.
West spoke for around 20 minutes, even delivering a 10 minute monologue, voicing his support for the president.
At the end of the meeting, West even gave the president a hug.
“I love this guy right here,” West said.
Season 2 of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” launches May 31 on Netflix.
