The controversial hip-hop star formerly known as Kanye West is once again making a bid for the Oval Office.
The rapper/producer/entrepreneur who legally changed his name to simply Ye previously ran for the highest office in the land two years ago but earned just 50,000 votes nationwide in the race won by Joe Biden.
Because of his late entry into that race, Ye wasn’t even present on the ballots of multiple states, having missed the deadline to qualify.
Ye, 45, announced his candidacy in a video that made the rounds on social media. In the clip, he said far-right personality Milo Yiannopoulos would be aiding him in his campaign.
The person filming the clip asks Ye if he’s officially announcing his candidacy, and Ye responds, “Yes. It’s simple ’cause ain’t nobody can tell me, you know, ‘you should say this, you shouldn’t say that,’ you know? It’s just we’re moving towards the future.”
The rapper has come under heavy fire recently for antisemitic remarks he tweeted, including a tweet on October 9 that said he was going to go “death con (sic) 3 on Jewish people,” a social media post that Ye defended by saying “black people are actually Jew also” and that caused Twitter to lock him out of the platform.
(Ye has been reinstated to Twitter since its purchase by Elon Musk.)
Ye also spoke of the “Jewish underground media mafia” in an interview with Chris Cuomo and said that Black musicians suffer from “modern day slavery” due to Jewish record label ownership.
His remarks caused a number of corporations to cut ties with him, including Adidas and Gap, who sold apparel lines under his “Yeezy” brand. In response, he announced he would be purchasing right-leaning social media platform Parler.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said of his desire to own the platform.
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