At this point in his career, Kanye West is no stranger to controversy. Despite widely being heralded as a hip-hop visionary and pioneer, his antics seem at times to attract more attention than his music. Whether it be his highly publicized beef with the likes of Taylor Swift and Amber Rose, or his comments about George W. Bush, there always seems to be some form of controversy surrounding Kanye. The latest in the hilariously long line of Kanye controversies is his outspoken support for President Trump, with the rapper taking to Twitter to declare his love of the polarizing president and enthusiastically show off his autographed MAGA hat.
Within a few hours of his tweets, Ye was given a shout out from the president. His support of the president dominated the news cycle for that day and sparked outrage among fans and musicians.
Of all of the stupid scandals West has been involved in, this might just be the most asinine. For one, it’s very hard for me to believe Kanye is even remotely sincere in his sudden rightward political shift. It’s Kanye West. The man feeds off of controversy for controversy’s sake, and revels in any attention, positive or negative. This is the man who defended Bill Cosby, who wore a Confederate flag (claiming that it's his flag now) and who has more or less compared himself to Jesus. The whole thing just smacks of being a poorly thought out publicity stunt. Just look at the actual comments Kanye has made. He hasn’t endorsed any specific policy or position of Trump’s, instead talking about something called dragon energy and how much of a free thinker he is. Rather than being an earnest embrace of Trumpism, it seems more likely that Ye is using Trump to draw attention back to himself.
Even if he was serious in his support of Trump, though, does it matter? The amount of outrage over the fact that Kanye West may possibly support Donald Trump to some extent is baffling. This whole pointless controversy comes after Shania Twain was pressured into apologizing after having the audacity to suggest that she might have theoretically voted for Trump. It seems that some Trump opponents have finally snapped and are now flying into fits of rage over the very idea of someone supporting the current president.
I’m no Trump supporter myself, and I fully understand why so many of his detractors are so vehemently against him, but the reaction that people like Kanye and Twain have gotten merely for expressing an opinion (in Kanye’s case, one of doubtful legitimacy) is somewhat disturbing. People have the right to support who they want for president, even if that person is a terrible leader. This kind of ostracism and demonization of people merely for supporting the president is not a healthy direction for national political discourse.
In the end, should we even care what celebrities think about politics? I value Kanye’s political insights about as much as I value Ted Nugent’s unhinged rantings. Entertainers are just people, and their political views aren’t any more valuable or important than the opinions of any random person on the street. The fact that this incredibly insignificant story was treated as front page news and generated real outrage speaks volumes about the perverse celebrity culture in the U.S. Instead of getting upset about Kanye being Kanye, people should instead focus on the other, infinitely more important issues out there.