Rapper Kanye West delivered an unfiltered, rambling 10-minute speech in his first Oval Office visit at the White House on Thursday.
The meeting was supposed to center on prison reform. However, West, wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, touched on several topics, including his bipolar disorder, abolishing the 13th Amendment, the economy, Chicago's gun violence and jobs. He was seated alongside former NFL star Jim Brown, who had also come to the White House to talk about prison reform.
Here are a few of West's quotes from his Oval Office meeting:
- On voting for Trump: "My dad and my mom separated so there was not a lot of male energy in my home and also I’m married to a family where, you know, there’s not a lot of male energy. It’s beautiful though."
- On Trump's support from African-Americans: "Blacks really get caught up in the idea of racism over the idea of industry."
- On racism: "Racism can't control me."
- On his mental health: "I wasn't bipolar, I had sleep deprivation that could cause dementia."
- On his speech: “You are tasting a fine wine that has multiple notes to it."
- On Trump wanting to implement stop-and-frisk in Chicago: "Well, I feel stop-and-frisk does not help the relationship with people in the city."
- On bringing jobs and tax breaks to Chicago: "We're going to need to get a few breaks to be able to have some places in my hometown of Chicago ... where we can create some factories. I think it would be cool for them be Trump factories because he's a master of industry, he's a master builder. I think it would be cool to have Yeezy ideation centers."
- When asked about Chicago's gun violence: "The problem is the legal guns. Legal guns is [sic] the problem."
- When asked about a possible presidential run: "Let’s stop worrying about the future, all we really have is today."
- On Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan: “Another thing is black people have a problem with the word again ... because time is a myth."
- On being in the Oval Office: “Oh, it is good energy in this."
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