Kanye West Announces 2020 Presidential Run At 2015 MTV Video Music Awards

Kanye West showed up at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards to accept the Video Vanguard Award – and apparently to announce his intentions to run for president in 2020.

Kanye West For President?

After an introduction by Taylor Swift, West took to the stage to accept the award, which recognizes the power and creativity of his catalogue of 40-plus music videos. Three minutes passed with the crowd cheering and West pacing the stage before he said a single word into the mic. Then, the rapper and fashion designer spoke for more than 11 minutes in a speech that ended with a shocking announcement.

West’s speech started as a statement of contrition for storming the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when Swift beat out Beyonce.

“I think if I had to do it all over again what would I have done? Would I have worn a leather shirt? Would I have drank half a bottle of Hennessy and gave the rest of it to the audience? Ya’ll know ya’ll drank that bottle too! If I had a daughter at that time would I have went on stage and grabbed the mic from someone else’s?” said West, who revealed that people always associate him with that moment.

 

West then moved on to talking about the larger ideas of awards shows – from the promotion of them to the practice of artists subjecting themselves to be dubbed losers among their peers.

“Sometimes I feel like all this s–t they run about beef and all that? Sometimes I feel like I died for the artist’s opinion. For artists to be able to have an opinion after they were successful. I’m not no politician, bro!” West said. “Look at that. You know how many times MTV ran that footage again? ’Cause it got them more ratings? You know how many times they announced Taylor was going to give me the award ’cause it got them more ratings? Listen to the kids, bro!”

“I still don’t understand awards shows,” West continued. “I don’t understand how they get five people who worked their entire life … sold records, sold concert tickets to come stand on the carpet and for the first time in they life be judged on the chopping block and have the opportunity to be considered a loser! I don’t understand it, bruh!”

West, after admitting he’d “rolled up a little something” before the show, went on to discuss the modern generation, and what they’re going to instill in their children. In closing, he looked toward the future – which will apparently include a bid to become the president of the United States.

“If my grandfather was here right now he would not let me back down! I don’t know I’m fittin’ to lose after this. It don’t matter though, cuz it ain’t about me. It’s about ideas, bro. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth,” said West, adding, “And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”

Apparently, no one but West was aware of the announcement he planned to make on the VMA stage. In the lead up to the award show, it wasn’t even certain if he would be attending or if he was going to take the opportunity to give the crowd a performance.

“In the weeks leading up to the show Kanye went back and forth,” the insider told Us Weekly. “He was initially going to perform and had many ideas. Then, he said he didn’t want to come at all. Then, he said he would come and not perform. The day of the show there was talk that he might perform.”

“Literally, up until he got onstage, no one was clear if he was going to perform or not,” the source adds to Us. “No one knew he was going to do that insane speech or what he was going to do.”