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He's a rapper, record producer and fashion designer – and now Kanye West wants to become the 46th president of the United States.
The hip-hop icon officially announced he is joining the race to the White House on Saturday as the country was celebrating its National Day.
"We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States," he tweeted, adding an emoji of the U.S. flag followed by the hashtag #2020Vision.
A screenshot of Kanye West's tweet.
It wasn't immediately clear whether West is really serious about going against current President Donald Trump and his main challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden in November's presidential election.
With just four months to go until Americans head to the polls, West is very late to join the party. The tweet announcing his presidential candidacy wasn't coupled with a detailed statement, and the songwriter has been mum on what his platform is supposed to be. Also unknown is whether West has filed the paperwork to have his name added to the election ballots, although there's still time for that.
The surprise announcement soon turned into a top trending topic on Twitter, with Americans sharing their two cents about the prospect of West ending up in the Oval Office.
Some comments under Kanye West's tweet.
Many were quick to express their opposition to West, reminding the musician of his 2018 controversy when he infamously said slavery was a "choice."
"When we said anybody else but Trump we didn't mean Kanye. Never in my life am I voting for anyone who thinks 400 + years of slavery was a choice," one Twitter user commented.
But others are throwing their weight behind the 21-time Grammy award winner.
West's wife and reality TV star Kim Kardashian retweet his announcement with a U.S. flag emoji, while Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk replied with "You have my full support!" under Kanye's post.
The 43-year-old has previously floated the idea of running for presidency. During the MTV Video Music Awards in 2015, West said "in 2020 I have decided to run for president" – but many took the statement with a pinch of salt after West admitted he had smoked weed before addressing the crowd. Last year, West set 2024 as the year he'd run for presidency.
West is an outspoken supporter of Trump and has previously sported the "Make America Great Again" cap, which he said made him feel like "Superman."
Kanye didn't cast a vote in the 2016 election, but in an interview with GQ magazine earlier this year, he signaled he's voting for Trump in the fall – though that's up in the air now that he joined the fray of presidential hopefuls.
(CGTN)
