Kanye West told Vanity Fair that his presidential run is no joke. The rapper and designer said he’s “definitely” still thinking of running in 2020.
He also discussed the audience’s surprising but encouraging reaction to his seemingly spontaneous announcement at the 2015 Video Music Awards:
“As soon as I said that, it was like, ‘Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually if you think about it, he’s extremely thoughtful. Every time he’s ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. He’s probably the most honest celebrity that we have.’ I didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasn’t like, Oh, let’s go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. I sit in clubs and I’m like, Wow, I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do.”
West went on to pitch himself as a DC outsider. “I hate politics. I’m not a politician at all. I care about the truth and I just care about human beings. I just want everyone to win, that’s all I can say, and I think we can,” he said in the interview.
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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com