Kanye West has announced that he’s “distancing himself from politics”, claiming he’s been “used” to spread ideologies that he “doesn’t agree with”.
In the last year, the man who once declared during a Hurricane Katrina benefit that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” has aligned himself publicly with “his brother”, President Donald Trump, and faced a huge backlash for it online and in the media, which he recently likened to “bullying”.
However, after it was falsely reported that he’d been involved in the “Blexit” campaign, urging African-American people to leave the Democrat party, Kanye has now tweeted to say he’ll no longer be involving himself in the political world.
Disputing conservative campaigner Candace Owens’ claims that he designed a new range of “Blexit” t-shirts, Kanye wrote: “I introduced Candace to the person who made the logo and they didn’t want their name on it so she used mine. I never wanted any association with Blexit. I have nothing to do with it.”
He then added: “My eyes are now wide open and now realize I’ve been used to spread messages I don’t believe in. I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative!!!”
Prior to this, Kanye had shared a number of tweets clarifying his political views, writing: “I support creating jobs and opportunities for people who need them the most, I support prison reform, I support common-sense gun laws that will make our world safer.
“I support those who risk their lives to serve and protect us and I support holding people who misuse their power accountable.
“I believe in love and compassion for people seeking asylum and parents who are fighting to protect their children from violence and war.”
Last month, Kanye was booed by some members of the studio audience at ‘Saturday Night Live’ when his live performance descended into a pro-Trump speech.
Shortly after this, Kanye took even more heat online when he posted about wanting to “abolish the 13th amendment”, an addition to the US constitution which led to the end of slavery in America, though he later clarified that he’d chosen his words poorly.
He later went to the White House to hold a meeting with Trump in the oval office, which was every bit as chaotic as you might expect.