Kanye West is back. He’s back on Twitter, he will be releasing new music in June, and he’s got a million other projects in the pipeline. Kanye went quiet for about a year and half, ever since his breakdown and hospitalization around November 2016. We’ve seen him, of course, but he was pretty quiet throughout 2017 and the first few months of 2018. I hoped that when he came back, he would be more reticent, more thoughtful, less… manic. I mean, I’ve always believed that Kanye still struggles with some serious mental health issues, and I hoped that during his 2016 hospitalization, he was diagnosed properly and put on a good medication regimen. But I don’t think any of that happened, because Kanye is basically in the Sunken Place right now.
I guess this round of Yeezy Shenanigans started when Kanye West tweeted his support for Candace Owens, a very right-wing conservative commentator who is awful. After that, radio host Ebro Darden called up Kanye and spoke to him at length, then Darden recounted his conversation on air, on his radio show Ebro in the Morning. According to Ebro, Kanye said he wasn’t hospitalized in 2016 for mental exhaustion or some kind of mental health issue: he was addicted to opioids. Oh, and Kanye still loves Donald Trump.
Over the weekend, Kanye West stoked the outrage fires yet again with more philosophic Twitter musings, this time including vague support for conservative, anti–Black Lives Matter commentator Candace Owens and “the way she thinks.” His tweets sparked a tense phone call between Kanye and Hot 97 host Ebro Darden, which the DJ recapped on his radio show Monday morning. According to Darden, Kanye said he intended to contextualize his Owens tweet and “wanted to have open dialogue,” but then decided “let me just take this heat right now and maybe people will understand when I put the music out.” He elaborated that Owens appeals to him because “she’s challenging conventional black thought,” and he feels “demonized” for attempting to do the same.
Throughout their conversation, Darden says Kanye professed his love for Donald Trump, explaining that he “reached out to Obama for years and couldn’t get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting.” When Darden questioned the legitimacy of that meeting, saying he allowed Trump to merely exploit him for a photo op, Kanye said Trump is just busy. Kanye told Darden his ultimate goal is to “deprogram” people and “have people think differently than they thought before,” and that he doesn’t believe he’s out of touch. Kanye also revealed that his 2016 hospitalization was due to an opioid addiction and that he still harbors resentment that “nobody really showed love for me” during that time.
This is a mess. Kanye is a mess. I’ve been a long-time Kanye Apologist and I still want to see him healthy, but I strongly suspect he is not healthy right now. His current tweets read like someone in a manic stage of bipolar disorder, and philosophically and politically, he needs to get his f–king head examined. I can’t.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Look, Trump’s base is made up of racists, misogynists, and the mentally ill.
So…
Wow that’s harsh. Remember how we had that article abt how Mariah Carey had bipolar n we needed to treat her w respect n be sensitive? Compassion applies across the board.
Even being bipolar, it doesn’t excuse his behaviour. He has access to treatment, good psychiatrists, and time and money to try to get estabilized . But at the end of the day he is justo another narcissist, mysoginist and privileged rich man who behaves like polítics don’t really apply to him and he is inmune.
No I didn’t read that article, I must have been out of school sick that day.
Being bipolar doesn’t excuse a person for being shitty.
I’m bipolar I, II, and mixed episode.
But I’m not an asshole when I’m manic.
It doesn’t make you insane, you are still capable of making choices.
If you are an asshole narcissist you make asshole narcissist choices.
And if it gets to the point you don’t know who you are and can’t make choices, then you need to be committed so you can be helped.
But someone making good choices , chooses to get help before it gets to that point. Especially if you have kids.
And as someone who is severely bipolar, yes you do know when your starting to have problems, sleep is usually the first to go. And trust me the people around you notice when you are, because it effects everyone.
Someone who is not an asshole and wants to be healthy (a lot of people like being manic )
contacts their shrink and let’s them know what’s going on and gets a medication adjustment.
And people being treated for bipolar Are seeing a shrink at least every 4-6 weeks. So the help is there.
It just really annoys me when people use their mental illness as an excuse for bad behavior.
My sister and one of my friends do this.
…My friend: it’s ok that I took off to Vegas for two weeks without telling anyone and got black out drunk and slept with anything that moved, spent thousands of dollars I couldn’t afford I was manic and couldn’t help it…
Bitch you were no where near that bad the day before, because if you were I would have called your mom to pressure you to get help.
And she knew she was getting manic because I noticed and had been telling her to call her Dr. But she didn’t want to fix it because she likes the initial stages of mania.
It’s all about choices. And unless you’re so far gone you don’t know who you are, people are perfectly capable of making choices.
I’m Bi-polar I. It doesn’t change my politics or who I am as a person. So I personally can’t write this off due to whatever mental issues he may be having. People act like Bi-polar turns you into someone you’re normally not, and that’s not entirely true. My energy level and my confidence waxes and wanes like the moon, but my basic belief system – political, religious, morality – doesn’t waver. I still know right from wrong. I don’t go around thinking I need to ‘de-program’ people and make them think differently. That’s not bi-polar, that’s a rich, privileged dude thinking he’s better and more genius than anyone else. And he IS extremely talented, I used to love him and I still listen to his music. But as for being a fan, he’s testing my patience with this nonsense.
“that’s a rich, privileged dude thinking he’s better and more genius than anyone else”
Well said.
It’s so obvious that his love of trump is due to Obama’s alleged rejection of him. This is about him holding a grudge just like trump over obama- they’re two peas in a pod
Many of us, diagnosed with mental illness, did not vote for Trump. Mental illness does not equal poor judgement across the board, thanks much, @Darla.
@Darla It’s so unfair to blame the shit people say as “mental disorders”. It’s just an excuse for stupid people to say stupid things and creates prejudice against the people with serious mental illness. Could Kanye has a mental problem? Yes. Does it mean that all the crap he says can be excused because of it? No. All people across USA with mental illness are Trump suporters? Obviously not. Are all Trump supportes mentally ill? No. So you were just rude and ignorant as Kanye.
Kanye is just an ass#@$% so you dont need to bring up mental illness or any other excuses! Lol
I agree. Also, has he ever come forward and self-identified as having a mental illness? If he has not, then I don’t think it’s our place to do so. We are not doctors and we are not treating him.
This is so wrong and uncalled for. Mentally ill people have a bad enough rap, no need to lump together with Trump supporters.
Just wow. This is why the mentally ill don’t seek treatment or feel comfortable telling friends or family.
Whaaaaat? Did you really say that, Darla? Wait. Yes, I checked again. Wow.
I resent that, Darla, as I suffer from depression and codependency and darn it my mentally ill behind doesn’t care for Trump! grrrr
That’s not nice. I suffer from bi-polor disorder and I don’t support Trump.
There’s a very well-researched correlation between mental illness and above average intelligence. There’s also solid research indicating that people who voted for Trump are less educated and lower earners across the board. That doesn’t seem like the same pool of folks…
Ummm…….a lot of Hillary voters are uneducated low earners too. Particularly the minorities unfortunately (and I say this as a black woman). So let’s not cast stones while living in a glass house.
Less educated across the board is a broad statement. I’m not talking about every single person in either camp being a certain way. Let’s not spin things into an all or nothing equation.
So…someone has a different narrative.
I’ve been warning my Kanye loving friends for YEARS about him and boy did I get a load of excuses from them and none of those excuses were about mental illness. It was mainly more about how I wasn’t smart enough to “get Kanye”. Today, they have no words and no more excuses. Finally.
When I worked at MTV years ago I had to spend an entire day with Kanye. He might be ill, but he’s also a giant douchebag who’s really far up his own a$$.
Kanye being mentally ill is even MORE reason to support him – the people that suffer the most when people want to take healthcare away are the most vulnerable, women, children, mentally ill, those w pre existing conditions, etc.
You know you can be mentally ill and a giant a$$hat at the same time right? We shouldn’t support him because hes trash.
Mental illness is not an excuse for everything. Being mentally ill does not make you a Trump supporter nor does it make you a complete egomaniac. It’s as if he’s now allowed to behave however he wants and we should just support him no matter what. You can be mentally ill AND be a horrible person.
Yes, we should have compassion for Kanye if he has a mental illnesses. However, his grandiose delusional talk and manic behaviors make me be think he’s not medicated. He could spiral down like in 2016 at any time, it’s what the disease does.
I know about this. I’m bipolar. I make sure I take my medicine every single day, I have no desire to be unmedicated as it’s dangerous. No one likes the medications – the side effects can be drastic – but I’d rather have my brain functioning then be delusional, crazy manic or suicidal.
And what Lola said, he can be mentally ill and still be a “giant a$$hat” who is mentally ill.
I personally know mentally ill people who were assholes before, during, and after their illness. It’s possible. Kanye can afford health insurance, so don’t lump him together with the ill people who worry about losing insurance for the health care we can’t afford
“the people that suffer the most when people want to take healthcare away are the most vulnerable, women, children, mentally ill, those w pre existing conditions, etc.”
and Kanye supports someone who WANTS TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM THOSE PEOPLE.
he may be mentally ill, and for that I have sympathy.
but he chooses to NOT treat it, even though he can afford to several times over WITHOUT health insurance, AND he’s a giant, self-important a$$hat. so, no, I won’t support him.
Maybe you aren’t smart enough to get Kanye.
Sure Jan. Thats exactly it. I don’t get his genious. Right.
I especially loved when he put plastic dolls of women in bed next to sexual abusers. How revolutionary! Who cares that it was probably triggering and offensive. He is art! He has no rules!
If he does have the diagnosis of bi Polar then that egomaniac behaviour is one of the symptoms of manic episodes. Also it does not matter how much money you have your mental illness dose not care. You can all the money in the world and that doesn’t mean you will stay stable.its common that someone is so unwell that just can’t see they are so unwell. Having insist is a major step to getting stable.
There’s no evidence that links being mentally ill to homophobia, racism and misogyny. Quit with the insulting excuses. He may be ill but he’s also a giant douchebag who only cares about what benefits him. He’s also not educated his thoughts on politics and society are incoherent trash.
Kanye said he likes the way Candace Owens thinks. Candace is a dangerous, fear mongering far right mouthpiece who aligns herself with the deplorable Turning Point USA. She places the blame on her fellow black Americans for being slaves on the “Democratic plantation” and appears on Info Wars regularly. Some of her biggest cheerleaders are Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones.
He also retweeted a bunch of videos from the awful Dilbert guy.
Annnnddd did you see the hideous shoes he posted.
Kanye is a good music producer. He has a great ear for beats and rhythms. He is far from an intellectual and he’s not a god.
I am not a Trump supporter, I personally can’t wait for him to go away, and also not a huge Kanye fan, but he’s allowed to support who he wants.
Lol why does Kanye always get a hard pass for everything? You know very well if thos was Taylor Swift the comments would be destroyong her
Oh my god, can you imagine the figurative blood bath if Taylor came out explicitly supporting Trump? The dragging that would occur would go on for weeks!
But that said, I do not think Kanye is in his right mind.
This. We all know why.
Oh please. Have some decency.
sure, he is allowed to support who he wants. But he also has to accept the criticsm and not claim that those who are not on board with his support of right wing thinkers do not understand and are not woke enough. Cannot have it both ways.
I agree 100% with Maria…just because Kanye can support who he wants doesn’t mean that his fans have to like it / agree with it / let it slide. He doesn’t get a pass just because he’s Kanye West, or at least, he shouldn’t.
…..And that right isn’t being encroached upon. He’s being rightfully criticized for it. Who you support affects other people (not that he even voted). If people think this all ends at “I have the right to support whoever I want. Free speech. It’s my opinion. Kiss my ass” then maybe they’re not mentally or emotionally ready for grown-up things such as politics or even putting a thought out in public.
+1
allowed to support who he wants.
and the public is allowed to drop their support of his OMG ART!!!! if they want.
And we are allowed to drag him for it. I’m sure many of you aren’t aware of Candace Owens, who is aligned with Info Wars and Turning Point USA, but she is particularly dangerous brand of alt right. Many racists and deplorables see her parroting their far right ideals and think that if that black woman gets it and agrees with them, that all other black people must be lazy, brainwashed etc. He also gave this person a large boost (I know her and the likes of Shapiro get 10s of thousands of likes on all their tweets, but I think a lot of that is bots). Screw Kanye, he cares about himself and himself only. People rag on Beyonce and Jay Z, but they at least are doing something for the community and not designing hideous track jacket boots.
Kimmy, come get your man. #icant
Kanye think Trump is “just busy?” Okay.
Eating hamburgers and overcooked steaks with Ketchup is busy work, man.
But what about golfing, TV, and Tweeting? He only has two (tiny baby) hands, guys…
He’s too busy to work on the issues Kanye brought up. Trump isn’t too busy. He does the opposite. He has emboldened the bullies who are bigots and racists to come out of the shadows in this country. It’s frightening. Supporting teachers? What a crock. Again, Trump is going the other way with his pick of Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education.
Kanye:
“I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues,” West wrote. “These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago.
Whom would’ve guessed Kanye and Taylor are the same, they just can’t call out white supremacists.
And for the people out there saying it’s all Kim’s fault, that’s a) sexist b) she clearly isn’t a Trump suporter c) Kanye is a grown up man who claims to never read books.
(wrong spot)
There’s a always a million excuses for Kanye. Every problem he has other people have them and they don’t act that way.
Kanye is mentally ill but I will not excuse everything that comes out of his mouth because of it. Or say that’s why he said it. Maybe he feels the way he feels.
It’s not Obama’s fault,it’s not Taylor’s, not Kim’s.
Kanye is responsible for Kanye. He chooses to support Trump and follow racists on Twitter and I chose not to respect or like him because of it.
Kim was actually wavering on Trump at one point. She very likely was swayed away from him because of other people in her life or fan reaction. I don’t think she is very deep, may possibly have low normal intelligence or is just afraid to think too deeply, and has a great affection for money so Trump’s policies let her keep more of it. She may have very mixed feelings, if she thinks about it much.
Kim is very likely also swayed by Kanye’s ramblings, since she may think all those words mean he is an important intellectual even when he is incoherent. She is either not intelligent enough or not self-confident enough to realize that as he slips into a manic phase, his words lack meaning. He’s not stupid, but his disorders get in the way a lot. I don’t really believe the opioid addiction story for his last meltdown. He may have been self-medicating with various drugs, but something else is going on. Bipolar could be part of it, considering his periodic manic behavior. But he could have other problems (or additional problems) that explain his behavior better. Maybe some of the real experts here could explain the many possibilities. I’ve seen bipolar mania up close and some of his behavior fits, but the brain can have other things going on as well. It’s really hard to separate physical brain dysfunction from natural obnoxiousness, so I would be a bit gentle with him even though he’s exasperating. It’s one of those chicken or the egg things. Did the dysfunctions push his development toward obnoxiousness, or would he have been obnoxious even without the dysfunctions? It’s rather scary to realize that our personalities are so shaped by forces beyond our control, like our brain chemistry. We see drastic changes in personality with stroke, for example.
Anyway, how Kim feels about Trump probably varies according to who is around her and what they say.
I don’t think Kim is malignantly racist (just clueless about the reality) or anti-immigrant like Trump, but she does have some delusions concerning support for people with mental illness (starting with her brother and Kanye).
I don’t know how she feels about “the poors”. She doesn’t seem antagonistic to people in less rich circumstances, but she is susceptible to believing that she is rich because she is especially clever and works harder than other people. Actually, she just chose the right parents and was willing to have sex in front of a camera and continues to be willing to do nude photoshoots. Those are easy ways to fame today, and being famous was her goal even as a young teenager. It takes a certain temperament but does not take special intelligence or skills to become famous in the ways she has chosen, and likewise for lending her name and image to existing creative enterprises. Her mother is the brains of the outfit. Without her mother, she would still be organizing other people’s closets and trying to stay adjacent to the famous.
So one obnoxious, entitled blowhard idolizes another. Quelle surprise. Of course 45 reached out to him – he saw a kindred spirit and he gets to use him to prove to everyone that he can’t be racist because he knows more than one black person. Too bad Kanye is too far up his own ass to recognize it.
I wonder how long it will take PMK to justify this friendship since it represents the possibility of a WH invitation at some point. I’m guessing they won’t care so much about strong women after that.
Oooh, that’s a great point, Grabbyhands! The KarJenners don’t seem to be feted by the big Hollywood stars or fashion people anymore. But, what does that matter, when there’s the possibility of inning shoulders with Stump, The Presidnt. In. The. White. House? If that ever happens, the smugness… Ugh.
What if he isn’t mentally ill? What if he is just an a-hole, underneath it all? We keep wanting Kayne to be better than he is, but he’s rolling out the same old crap, time and again. Maybe he is just a delusional egomaniac who likes being married to a Kardashian.
and why would he not be? People keep buying his records and spending oodles of money on any crappy fashion he puts out her like he is the second coming of Christ. Even now he can tweet the most banal statements and his followers buy into them as if they were the musings of a Greek philosopher….
This is what I tend to think. Occam’s Razor.
So Kanye is still upset that #44, rightfully, called him a donkey’s behind and has Jay Z and Beyonce on speed dial.
Okay then.
Ha! I forgot about that 😉
He’s still salty smdh…
Kanye is like cod fish that’s how salty he is.
Well, Stump has a deep hatred and serious obsession with Obama, and I suspect this is what West believes is their very strong connection and commonality. Obama and the Carters are friends, and neither pay attention to West, so it’s sort of “your enemy is my friend”, even though Obama probably couldn’t give two hoots about Stump or West – he’s got far too many important and interesting things to fill his thoughts. I don’t know how West is still a thing in the music or fashion worlds, to be honest.
It could be both but like so many have said, you can have mental illness and not be a jerk. My brother has bipolar disorder, and sometimes it is very hard to deal with because he sabotages his own life (he barely has enough to eat and bounces around from friends house to friends house because he has trouble keeping a job- despite have a masters degree in Chemistry). He is not a raging jerk though and he doesn’t suddenly say he likes the way alt right conspiracy fear mongers think. I know mental illness is different, but I guess what I am saying is that mental illness is not always the root cause of someone’s horrible behavior. Kanye could just be a selfish arrogant jerk who also happens to have bipolar.
Beware of the Twitler’s curse…it didn’t end well for Caitlyn Jenner who professed her love for Orange Poophead and tried to speak for the LGBTQ community.
It’s not going to end well with Kanye seeing his reputation down the drain. Nothing ever good can come out supporting a bloated, racist con man.
There’s a reason Kendrick was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
I don’t think Kanye is well. And I don’t think he has been for a long time.
His mother’s death was the turning point. Anyone with more than one eye could see it.
I think the very sudden and preventable nature of her death (preventable as in it was elective surgery) was too much for him. I feel very sorry for the pain he endured due to Donda’s death. I think it was even harder on him than the car accident and I’m not sure if he ever has gotten to a place of peace.
I think Kanye still blames himself for his mother’s death. He has said that she got into plastic surgery only because he brought her into that plastic surgery-promoting environment. He needs to address that problem and realize she made her own decisions. It was a great loss for him regardless.
How does that old saying go? “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
I think the writer Roxane Gay put it very well on twitter:
‘Kanye’s shallow, banal attempts at profundity are… embarrassing and the way people act like he is doing more than offering up trite aphorisms need to recognize.’
That is perfect. Dr. Gay nailed it, as usual.
Kanye’s whole support of trump has more to do with Obama not meeting with him than challenging black thought.
Uh oh does that mean he’s going to run for President as revenge against Obama too???
Didn’t he say at one time he wanted to run for president in 2020?
He did say that, Swack, and last week someone sent me a text saying Kanye West is releasing a book on philosophy. Does anyone know anything about this?
And trump only met with him because he’s black and famous. See, I’m not racist, I’m friends with Kanye. Trump is so that kind of person
Yes, same reason that he and others say, “Oh, I’m not a misogynist, I have women in my cabinet.” Right, okay … lol.
The SADDEST thing about Kanye…who I have TRIED to ride with…him being from my hometown…and my neighborhood but I can NO LONGER!!! Especially him saying that he LIKES Tramp…because Tramp paid him some attention and had a meeting with him…that resulted in NOTHING…and POTUS Obama always ignored him (when you’re intelligent…you ALWAYS ignore someone who isn’t wrapped too tight…so kudos to Obama for that one) So THAT’S all Kanye needs to be down with someone who has spent their ENTIRE ENTITLED LIFE…being a racist, sexist, treasonous, thieving upwardly mobile vulgarian….
Just a bit of attention….
He’s like Trump – flattery and attention will get you everywhere. Kanye doesn’t care about Trump being a racist, sexist, treasonous, thieving upwardly mobile vulgarian, as long as Trump strokes his ego.
Yes. He judges Obama and Trump by who gave him more time. That tells me what I need to know about Kanye. To put Trump above Obama, ugh, it makes me sick.
Yup this.
Kanye doesn’t get some pass because he has issues. He likes Trump and others of his ilk. He owns it. Trump gave him a photo-op meeting. But he’s a busy man, so all is okay for Kanye. Barack was too busy really solving problems, since he took on a war and a horrible recession and actually receiving intel every day and digesting it, not getting his intel from Fox & Friends, but that’s not good enough for Kanye. And he likes Candace Owens? Ugh.
Kanye is self-involved. Trump appeals to him, because he has the same quality.
Um, Obama didn’t give you a meeting because he (rightfully) thinks you are a “jackass”. Trump gave you a photo op because he was exploiting your dumbass. Trump is a racist.
This didn’t start because he was mentally ill. Kanye has BEEN in the sunken place. We don’t claim him
“reached out to Obama for years and couldn’t get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting.”
Well, that tells me that one was very busy and knew to use his time wisely, and the other is Trump.
I think he says and does a lot of this just for the reaction, and to feed into his victim complex. Beyond that, I’ll just wish him good health and leave it at that.
Kanye always gave me the impression he was raised to think he’s God’s gift to the earth. Soooo deep and ‘aware’ than the rest of us. i’m sure he has some type of mental diagnosis but I just keep going back to his lack of self awareness and megalomania
His mother’s ex alluded to this a while back. He said that she raised him to believe that he was some genius child and there was no discipline, etc. Kanye ruled the roost. I think he’s suffering more from that than from whatever mental illness he may have.
And there you have it. It doesn’t matter if your child is a ‘genius’, that child needs to know that they are not the most important person in the room all the time, and they need to leave some oxygen in that room for someone else. The failure to do so, that means you have an adult who takes themselves way to seriously, and can’t survive if they think someone else is more talented or getting more attention than they are. Kanye is a now an attention-seeking dementor who is terrorizing people with his foolishness.
It’s also a slap in the face to constantly excuse his behaviors as him being “mentally ill” whenever it’s negative.
That’s saying all mentally ill people act negativity and do and say horrible things when they don’t
When Kanye does good things we don’t say he’s “mentally ill”
I hope he gets help, but as i said before I feel like this is his opinion. He feels this way.
This!
Such an important point you’re making. Hope everyone reads it.
THANK YOU!!!!
+1000
I don’t think anything harmful was meant by this. Although plenty of positive behaviour is linked to mental illness i.e. people feeling more creative during a bipolar high, most people identify with mental illness most strongly when it negatively affects their relationships, behaviour, moods etc. Mental illness would be more likely to be viewed as a gift or blessing if we focused on the positive elements. It’s clear than when people are behaving negatively, they feel more aligned to the ‘mentally unwell’ label. I’m not strictly talking about people who are diagnosed here, but just the general public. We all have varying levels of mental health throughout our life’s.
Honestly, it sounds like Kanye got “red pilled” (aka radicalized) online. He sounds like a teenager who’s spent too much time on /pol and thinks he’s enlightened.
I have bipolar disorder. Kanye is textbook and off his meds.
I don’t think he’s off his meds. He’s gotten quite chubby again which is his usual mo when he’s medicated.
Furthermore like other people have expressed his mental illness is no excuse for right wing opinions.
I dated a bipolar guy in college and I’d have to agree — he seems off his meds. My ex was a creative type as well and genuinely believed his best work was made in his manic phase. I wonder if Kanye feels similarly and went off his meds to work on this album.
He wants everyone to stop calling out his wife and her family for cultural appropriation. Yeezy is a Republican Narcissist
I don’t think Kanye cares about issues that don’t affect Kanye. He just likes being seen as the person who contradicts what others think. Most people dislike Trump? Well, Kanye thinks he’s cool! This promote his image: I am a rebel & misunderstood genius. People don’t get me!! When it comes down to it, he’s all about himself. No wonder he likes Trump–he’s Kanye’s role model. Their motto is–if it’s not about me, it doesn’t matter.
@ MoAnne, you said it all!
This saddens me as a Kanye fan, and as a radically left-wing person. I don’t like celebs involving themselves that way in politics but I would have prefer by far him running in 2020 and defending his own ideas, even if right-wing, instead of him supporting that blonde troll. I’m disappointed beyond words about that very public stance, because as much as he has the right to think what he thinks, people don’t need this. Quite the opposite actually.
The fact that Obama’s didn’t make time to speak to Kanye is another +1 in my book for Barrack. Especially considering he always got flack for being too celebrity friendly. I miss u 44.
“Especially considering he always got flack for being too celebrity friendly”
The inescapable irony being that those same critics ultimately voted for a celebrity to run this country smdh.
Trump would give his left nut for celebs to fawn all over him.
He supported Hilary…then switched to Trump after he won…then backtracked and said he was “sorry” for supporting Trump…now he’s supporting him again. Seems like he isn’t sure what he supports. The dude didn’t even vote which is the funny part. How can you “support” a candidate but not even bother to vote?
“I’ve been a long-time Kanye Apologist and I still want to see him healthy, but I strongly suspect he is not”
I don’t understand this line of thinking. Sure we all wanna see him healthy but his support for extremists and right wingers have nothing to do with his mental health issues. All people who have mental health issues or drug issues for that matter does not end up supporting right wingers. One of my best friends is bipolar i find it slightly insulting on her and other people who are afflicted by this illness that people continue to tie political views to mental illness. This is about his character not his illnesses.
Perfectly stated, Sara.
Applause for Sara for a well-expressed point. Mental illness does not play a role in this man’s views. It may play a part in how he presents himself but whatever his mental illness may be, Kanye, not his illness, is responsible for his beliefs. Also, Donda West is not responsible for how her adult son behaves more than 10 years after her death. He is. Stop blaming the woman. Many of us lose a beloved parent in an untimely manner. It doesn’t give us license to show up drunk at work, to interrupt others in the middle of speeches, to depict people we don’t like in rape fantasy videos, or to embrace or promote fascist regimes without facing consequences for doing so. Kanye is responsible for Kanye. And people need to stop making excuses for him.
Thank you Lightpurple and Sara! I see people trying to excuse his behavior by blaming mental illness or Donda. They are not to blame for this grown man’s behavior. This is Kanye and it is all on Kanye.
I’ve never really known a person’s mental illness cause them to have extreme political views. Especially InfoWars type stuff that Candace puts out there. I mean I’m sure it does, but I don’t think that’s the case here. I think that even if he does have mental health issues, he’s also a narcissistic jerk who thinks super highly of himself and will gravitate towards anyone who gives him slobbering praise (sounds like Trump).
Regardless of whatever is going on with his mental state, he is a crap person in general and always has been. His ego is unbelievable…which is why he is well suited for Kim.
How dare Kanye speak his mind and have an opinion! Get over it.
There isn’t a person on this board or site that wouldn’t leap to defend his right to say what he wants. That’s not the problem.
Yes, and I can have my opinion about Kanye.
Yup.
Honestly what happened to him? This is the same man who said on TV George Bush hates Black People. I feel like he went downhill when he got with Kim, that family sucked the life out him.
As much as I completely dislike that family, his behavior is not their fault.
What happened to him is that he’s a deliberate contrarian. He has no real stance(s) on anything except Kanye West. Everything else he purposely goes against the grain so he can be “different” and “provocative” and “evocative” and “challenging.” My biggest pet peeve is a deliberate contrarian. I like some of his current music still and I hate myself for it but I won’t pay money for this loser who always has to say something to get attention.
I don’t really like his clothing line but if he’s designing the casual running shoes I see Kim wearing at times, I do like those. Kanye has a busy life now with three children.
How is this shocking to anyone?
Less manic? Don’t write about what you clearly know nothing about. High fives to Kanye, keep up the progress 👍
Kanye loves for white approval so this is right up his alley.
He’s been like this for a long time and it used to really annoy me that this site covered his outbursts like it was pure entertainment and everybody claiming there was nothing wrong with him. He might be suffering from mental illness but it doesn’t excuse the fact he is an egomaniac with delusions of grandeur. You can be narcissistic and have mental illness. One is not necessarily caused by the other. I still remember when at a concert he made everybody stand up and he singled out a disabled concert goer in a wheelchair for sitting and sent his security to “check” the person was really disabled (and this was 4 years ago) and couldn’t stand. Who the eff does that?? And still people apologized for him! I was apoplectic.
No. This is not normal. Kanye is not some genius hiding behind some persona. He’s always thought he was the next coming of I don’t know what and he cannot accept that he isn’t.
“explaining that he “reached out to Obama for years and couldn’t get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting.”
And there it is, folks. Kanye has no real political leaning. It’s all about him. That’s why he and Kim go well together. Dare I say, she’s probably less self-centered than he is? #FoodForThought
WHO LOVES KANYE? THAT’S A GOOD BOY! That’s all you gotta do to win this dude over.
Like some people already commented here, if this was Taylor Swift or any other white celebrity they would have been cancelled and trashed on a long time ago. But since its this fool Kanye, oh well he gets a past cause he’s black and doesn’t know better.
And because he must be ‘unwell.’ I agree, so odd whose opinions are accepted on here and whose aren’t.
I’m bipolar and was even hospitalized (i.e., cracked up) after the death of my mother. I still manage to make well thought out choices when I vote. As for the statement about opioid addiction, Kanye was a patient at UCLA’s psychiatric hospital. Therefore, at the very least he had a dual diagnosis–addiction and mental illness.
Personal story: I had a 7am appointment at the psych hospital while Kanye was there. I was surprised to see his bodyguards crashed out/sleeping in the waiting area. Although TBF the units are locked.
The sad part is that Kanye’s kids are watching his behavior and might copy it.
It’s just one Narcissist fangirling over another. F*^% Them both.
I’ve been done with Kanye ever since I’ve had to defend Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian/Kardashians, and the fashion industry because of his clownish asshole antics. He’s been cancelled and its a cop out to blame Mental Illness for his behavior.
Does Kayne West have a lot of rednecks and Trump voters who buy his music and his clothes? Or perhaps he is just trying to stay in the tabloids as he is under financial strain and his celebrity ratings keep the creditors at bay?
He sure went downhill from stating on television that George W. Bush “doesn’t care about black people” to supporting Donald effing Trump, of all people. I mean, surely he knows about the Central Park 5 and the mountains of other instances where his rampant bigotry was made crystal clear.
I mean FFS Kanye, the man hasn’t even denounced the Waffle House murders yet or commended James Shaw, Jr yet.
Black lives are clearly worthless to him and he is so purely racist, it is scary.
Someone done did reactivated the sleeping robot that is Kanye. I cannot deal with all the retweets im seeing on my timeline and I dont even follow him. Hell. I might just mute his profile.
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but I think a lot of you do care and may not even know what Kanye is promoting. He said he liked the way Candace Owens thinks, he tweeted a bunch of videos about the Dilbert guy. These people belong in a larger umbrella of the alt right that includes Milo Yiannopolus, Ben Shapiro, Alex Jones, Steven Crowder, Tomi Lahren, Paul Joseph Watson and Charlie Kirk. They have also taken Kyle Kashuv, a student and Parkland survivor under their wing. They also align with people like Mark Dice, Mike Cernovich, Jack Posebic, Kurt Schlitler (sp- I don’t care I call him sh#t let), Roseanne, James Woods and Hannity.
These are the “facts don’t care about your feelings people.” They love to just say things like Good Morning, there are only two genders. They thrive on owning the libs. They somehow get tens of thousands of retweets. Milo says he is gay therefor he knows homophobia is a lie and being transgender is a mental disorder. Candace says because she’s a black woman she can say for sure that racism and sexism don’t exist. They often tweet or post incendiary things and engage in a lot of Islamaphobia. I’ve reported Candace (and all the others as well) for clearly violating YouTube and Twitter tos and her videos and tweets still stay. Yet they claim they are victims from those two platforms and conservatives are being discriminated against. Oh and their big thing is challenging liberals to a debate. But it’s a trap. Because before the debate starts, they will automatically declare themselves a winner when it’s over. A bunch of them challenged Jimmy Kimmel to one. Kyle has challenged David Hogg (he sounds like a mini Shapiro and Kirk and that makes me sad to think they are using this child) to one. Oh and Candace just challenged Don Cheadle of all people. However, they will post clips or videos of the debate (sort of like what Kanye was referencing) and title it “So and so owns this SJW” “So and so smashes lib in debate.” Regardless of how the debate went. It’s troll and contrarian 101. This is what Kanye just gave a huge platform boost to. And like Diamond and Silk, Candace has a majority of right wing white fans. So basically they enjoy a black woman saying exactly what they believe but would probably still sneer at a black woman on the street. They also have this whole philosophy that contrarian equals intelligent. I already saw someone came to this comment section and called Candace intelligent. However, if you watch her videos the logic falls apart and it’s a lot of circular talk about liberalism being a mental disorder, libs are brainwashed and liberals are the modern day enslavers of black Americans. There’s nothing else there. That’s alt right hogwash 101 but she dresses it up by using the term red pill. Who knows if she even believes this stuff or if she likes the attention. Oh and these are the people who go after Hollywood and say no one cares about what celebrities think. I mean unless of course they agree with the right. Then by all means, keep talking Kanye. We love you Kanye! Come debate libs with us Kanye. Keep tweeting Roseanne and James Woods!
Kanye is being a jerk and giving a boost to a very incendiary and dangerous group of people. And no, they are dangerous for being right wing, they are dangerous because they are the kind who push things like Pizzagate, QAnon, the Seth Rich murder theories, Islamaphobia, homophobia, transphobia and racism.
The first time I saw Candace talk, I immediately thought of Diamond and Silk. Not because the women are similar in any remarkable way (except for their beliefs), but because of the crazy white fan base that seem to follow them around. It’s so embarrassing and so, SO shameful to see how excited and almost giddy white people get when seeing a person of color confirm their biases SMDH.
What a f*cking mess we are living through right now. Sigh.
This is a common phenomenon in other contexts also. Let one woman say something that confirms male biases, and the guys latch on to that and ignore all the rest of us saying the opposite. I’ve never found a satisfactory way to consistently get past that obstacle.
The sad part is that his followers are eating it up on his posts, millions of them.
Thanks to their “mentoring,” young Kyle has now been interrogated by the local police for frightening several of the other students. Instead of cautioning the kid to dial it down a notch, they’re now screaming that his rights were violated, they weren’t, and encouraging more harassment of the other kids.
No way. You go ahead and beat that dead horse, @Shark Bait! Thank you to you, Kitten, and others for being a persistent voice of reason on these threads. People who probably think of themselves as tolerant in respect to all of the other -isms will casually throw out some really ugly and destructive assumptions on mental illness. Also, there’s just some straight up nastiness on here lately from usernames I don’t recognize. I’ve been on this site for *years* and I love how supportive and well-informed the discourse usually is.
Is it that surprising? The Kardashians and Trumps have a lot in common. Hell Kanye even spoke about running for President.
they’re one and the same. anyone who thinks the kardashians and their circle are even marginally better than the trumps need to reevaluate their lives.
as long as kanye continues to sound like an older dumber jaden smith, i doubt he’ll get a meeting with any respectable president.
Regardless of mental health status, political affiliation, race, etc., what has happened to Kanye is what has been the ultimate downfall of many famous people. He’s lost his contact with reality and no one around him will tell him no or disagree with him (as they are on his payroll, need to remain in his good graces, fear him, tune him out, etc.). He’s living in an echo chamber with yes men (and family members and loved ones) who don’t want to ‘upset’ him by disagreeing with him or telling him when he’s acting crazy.
Annnnddddd…the stories over a People.com have started.
It will not surprise me if Kris is trying to persuade Kim to separate.
Yep. It seems like Kris is trying to separate her brand from this latest Kanye mess.
Kanye displays “love” for Drumpf because Drumpf’s people pay Kanye to do this. They tried to get 50 Cent to Uncle Tom for Drumpf but 50 said their offer of $500,00 was too low. Apparently it’s the right price for Kanye.
Kanye doesn’t control his own narrative any longer. I don’t trust any reports or stories about him because his in laws will roll him under the bus to control the narrative as desired.
He has not been the same since his mom died.
Kanye is an idiot. He likes Trump because he has the intellectual capacity of a fruit fly and he thinks it’s so edgy and cool to be contrarian. It doesn’t go any deeper than that. It’s pathetic and it’s sad but not surprising. People these days are tripping over themselves to be so edgy and different. I just wish people would stop giving him attention. Just ignore him.