Piers Morgan has said his “heart sank” when he heard Kanye West was intending to run for president in the upcoming US elections.
Over the weekend, Kanye announced on Twitter that he plans to join the race for the White House after previously stating that “there will be a time when I will be the president of the US.”
On Sunday, he tweeted: “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States #2020vision.”
Piers has described the rapper’s plans to go up against Donald Trump and Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden as “deluded” and “narcissistic” in his latest column for the Daily Mail.
The Good Morning Britain presenter writes: “It was almost impossible to think of anything that could possibly make the situation even more negative than it is right now.”
Piers says America is in “utter turmoil” and notes the backlash Trump’s administration has received over its handling of the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s death and the coronavirus pandemic.
“Frankly, the very last thing it needs is another ranting, deluded, impulsive, narcissistic, completely unqualified billionaire celebrity to ride to the rescue,” Piers writes.
Referring to Kanye’s controversial comment in 2018 that “slavery is a choice”, which the rapper later apologised for, Piers adds: “Kanye West is a great musician, and in many ways a fascinating character. But there’s nothing courageous about saying other Black people lacked the courage to escape slavery.”
He continues: “Until now, none of this chaotic, emotionally charged, inconsistent and baiting rhetoric has mattered. Kanye is perfectly entitled to his views, however ugly some of them have been. But if he wants to be president, then his views matter very greatly.”
Piers concludes: “America can’t afford for it to be turned into an unedifying clown show where the result is decided by a smug, gobby, irrational, unpredictable billionaire star on a gigantic ego trip.”
In recent years, Kanye has proved a controversial figure when it comes to politics, having been, just like Piers, one of US president Donald Trump’s most vocal celebrity supporters.
Kanye has repeatedly sported a red “make America great again” baseball cap, including on Saturday Night Live and during an appearance at the Oval Office.
However, in late 2018, the Grammy-winning musician tweeted that he was “distancing himself from politics”, claiming his name had been used to “spread messages I don’t believe in”.