Kanye West told talk show host David Letterman that supporters of President Donald Trump are “treated like enemies of America” after the host challenged his support for the president.
“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,” Kanye West said during an interview on Letterman’s Netflix series, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” 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 as 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 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 “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.”
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.
Following West’s lengthy speech, President Trump, who’s previously described West as “a friend of mine for a long time,” thanked him for his speech, according to Breitbart.
“I tell you what, that was pretty impressive,” President Trump said. “That was quite something.”
“It was from the soul,” West responded. “I just channeled it.”
At the end of the meeting, West even gave the president a hug.
“I love this guy right here,” West said.
At the beginning of this year, West took to social media to express his support of the president.
“One of my favorite of many things about what the Trump hat represents to me is that people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black,” he wrote on Twitter on Jan. 1.
One of my favorite of many things about what the Trump hat represents to me is that people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black
— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019
He also wrote on Twitter, “Trump all day.”
Trump all day
— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019
