Justin Vernon Says He 'Can't Really Kick It' With Kanye West on a Personal Level Anymore

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon prefers the progressive side of the aisle, with plans for an October 2020 Wisconsin run in support of the Dem nominee.

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Image via Getty/ Chelsea Lauren

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There's a lot of greatness tucked into a new interview with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, including a killer opening line about his blunt-assisted charging of a Tesla with a nickname. For the purposes of this article, however, we're going to first point to the bits he offered about the current status of his relationship with frequent collaborator Kanye West.

In the must-read Pitchforkfeature penned by Jeremy D. Larson, Vernon—who last week dropped some new Bon Iver in the form of the excellent i, i album—revealed a sustained fondness for his fellow purveyor of the furthest reaches of artistic expression. Personally, however, things don't currently align.

"I can't really kick it with him anymore on a personal level, just the energy," he said. "But I've got mad love for him, and we're still friends."

West, of course, has had similarly distanced comments sent his direction ever since his extended dance with MAGAism. Still, Vernon is among those who contributed to West's 2018 solo album Ye. He's also on the roster for the Ye x Cudi instaclassic collab project Kids See Ghosts, also released last year.

Politically, Vernon is more concerned with forward-thinking ideas, described in the Pitchfork piece as currently being "more attracted to the progressive ideologies of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren." He's notably planning an October 2020 tour around Wisconsin in support of whoever ends up with the Democratic nomination, with hopes that the nominee may even show up to speak at some of the stops. The goal, Vernon said, is to "get a bunch of money and give it to the people who need it to run this shit better."

The full experience also includes some well-earned praise for the creative benefits of LSD and DMT, as well as that killer Tesla opener, so head here for that.

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