Rapper Kanye West made comments critical of Harriet Tubman, the woman who helped slaves in the South get to safety and freedom in the North and who is set to replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
West made the comments during his first presidential campaign event Sunday evening in South Carolina, saying the famous Underground Railroad operator “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.” The comments, according to The Associated Press, “drew shouts of opposition from some in the crowd.”
“West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals, before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina. Whether he is actually seeking the nation’s highest office remains a question,” the outlet reported.
In addition to West’s comments about Tubman, he also suggested abortion should be legal but that financial incentives should be used to deter women from seeking one.
“Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he suggested.
“Wearing a protective vest and with ‘2020; shaved into his head, the entertainer appeared on a livestream of the event. Several hundred people gathered in a venue, where gospel music played before West’s appearance,” the AP reported.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, West announced his first campaign event on Saturday, just one day before it was to take place. The event took place at the Exquis Even Center in North Charleston on Sunday at 5 p.m., giving potential attendees little time to plan, ABC News reported. The event was limited to “registered guests only,” and West provided a link to his campaign website – Kanye2020.country – where they could sign up, however, at the time he posted the link, there was no dedicated link to sign up for the event, ABC reported.
“It’s not entirely clear how West would qualify, as South Carolina’s deadline to file signatures as an independent candidate was July 15. The state does not allow write-in candidates,” ABC noted.
West filed paperwork last week with the Federal Election Commission establishing a principal campaign committee called Kanye 2020. He filed the paperwork on the same day a former consultant who had been hired to get the rapper on the ballot in multiple states told New York Magazine’s Intelligencer that West was “out” of the presidential race.
Campaign specialist Steve Kramer told the outlet that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”
The Intelligencer reached out to West’s publicist, who added another spokesperson to the email chain. No one said anything for a while, so the Intelligencer reached back out to Kramer, who said simply, “He’s out.” When asked for details, Kramer told the outlet: “I’ll let you know what I know once I get all our stuff canceled. We had over 180 people out there today.”
That same day, West met the requirements to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, The Associated Press reported.