The Kanye Effect: Chance The Rapper Says ‘Black People Don’t Have To Be Democrats’ And Melts The Internet

The same day Kanye West set the internet on fire by tweeting explicit support for President Donald Trump, Chance the Rapper voiced support for freedom of thought.

“Black people don’t have to be democrats,” he tweeted Wednesday evening.

The Grammy Award-winning musical talent has been open about his support for Democrats like twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. His tweet was certainly not an assertion to Republican ideology, but, more importantly, an expression of support for freedom of thought, seemingly taking a note from Kanye.

Yet, such a tame and accurate statement set the internet on fire. Within just an hour of posting, the tweet received over 100,000 “likes” and more than 37,000 replies.

Here’s a small taste of the backlash (warning: language):

The free thinking endorsed by Chance is vital to and desperately missing from current discourse. As Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld noted about Kanye’s recent pro-free-thought tweets, “There’s nothing scarier to a leftist than a free thinker.” Kanye “challenged the mob,” added Gutfeld.

“Their goal is to stigmatize,” he said. “Smears always shut down debate.”

Hopefully there will be more brave souls in the public arena, especially Democrats, who vocally support free-thinking individuals and reject demonization of those who hold different views.