On Sunday, Kanye West took a stage in Charleston, South Carolina to hold his first-ever campaign rally, complete with a bullet-proof vest and the year '2020' cut into his hair. During that rally he made the first of (enter your best guess here) suspect comments that will generate headlines until this social experiment comes to an end.
Specifically, he claimed that "Harriet Tubman.. never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people.” The audience fell silent after the comment. But to get a real understanding of how the crowd felt, here's a clip of the remark with added commentary from the woman filming saying, "Yo, we're leaving right now." As you can see from her tweet, she says she indeed left afterward.
Other highlights from the event included more unpopular Kanye opinions, such as, “Democrats ain’t done shit for Blacks!” He added that the most ridiculous thing he's heard is that he'll end up splitting votes.
On the topic of anti-abortion, which he previously backed, Kanye shared an emotional story in which he indicated he's opposed to birth control and the morning after pill. As you can see in the clip below, he says that he "almost killed" his daughter, and then followed that up by saying, "No more Plan B. Plan A," after he was asked about the personal anecdote.
Us Magazine added further context by saying that his wife, Kim Kardashian West, had called him after a doctor's appointment, when they were still dating, to reveal that she was freaking out because she believed he had given her AIDS due to his crazy show-biz lifestyle. He said she also told him she was pregnant, and that they discussed her taking the pill to end the pregnancy. West also shared that, even if his wife left him after the speech, she still brought their daughter North into this world.
During the speech, Kanye went on a rollercoaster of emotions between sadness, anger, and joy between several audience interruptions from those in attendance either directly asking questions or looking to hug West. The rally drew a sizable reaction outside of the room it was held in. For those who weren't in attendance, but caught wind of his comments via social media, there was much to be said:
Following the campaign event, it was reported that West and his team had failed to deliver the signatures required to appear on South Carolina's 2020 presidential ballot:
