Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr were plastered with posters of Kanye West from the VMA Awards on August 30 after his acceptance speech left viewers in either complete hysteria, awe or something in between.
Taylor Swift was selected to present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award to Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards. Swift briefly touched on Kanye’s 2009 stunt, in which he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video, drunkenly yelling that the award should have gone to Beyoncé and her “Single Ladies” music video. However, the country singer focused more-so on West’s artistic ability than her beef with Yeezus. Swift praised Kanye, admitting that his album was the first she bought on iTunes and describing the success of his clothing line.
When Swift finished her speech, all eyes were on Mr. West. West grabbed the mic and emerged center stage under a single beam of white light. Yeezus devoured chants of appraisal from his fans as he waited almost two minutes for the crowd to quiet down. While audience members and viewers at home anxiously waited for Kanye’s formal apology to Taylor, West’s speech quickly took an…unexpected turn.
The self-proclaimed “Rap God” briefly touched the stunt he pulled at the 2009 VMA’s, stating that if he had North West at the time of the incident, he may have acted differently. West quickly transitioned, however, to a different topic.
“Bro. Bro. Listen to the kids,” West started. “Y’all might be thinking right now, ‘I wonder: Did he smoke something before he came out here?’ The answer is yes, I rolled up a little something. I knocked the edge off.” A great start to a speech, right?
“I’m confident. I believe in myself. We are millennials, bro. This is a new—this is a new mentality,” West said. “It don’t matter, though, because it ain’t about me. It’s about ideas, bro. New ideas, people with ideas, people who believe in truth.” It’s hard to say whether it was really West or the weed talking at this point.
Amongst the screeches from the crazed crowd, Yeezus concluded his acceptance speech with the words that set social media on fire: “And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”
Let’s pause for a second. West for President. Regardless of whether or not the “creative genius” was serious or not, it leads one to wonder what our country would be like if Kanye and the Kardashians were living in the White House.
First off, it’s safe to say that Mary Jane would be legalized everywhere. The rest of the world could keep up with the lives of our beloved First Family on E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians: America’s Favorite Family.” Kanye before his speech noted that that Kim Kardashian is more influential than the First lady Michelle Obama, adding that the First Lady could not post bikini “selfies” of herself like his wife. So there’s no doubt Kim’s iconic “Selfie” book would be sprawled across every possible table in the White House.
On the bright side, at least there wouldn’t be any issues of maintaining a balance between church and state in our country because after all, Kanye IS God. Plus, if Yeezus were president, performances for televised events would never been an issue. Kanye would obviously perform one of his own musical numbers at his Inauguration Ceremony. American currency would get a “creative upgrade” seeing that our dollar bills would be plastered by the faces of West, Kim, North, Kendall, Kylie, and whoever the other Kardashians are.
People on social media are also very vocal about Kanye’s speech, making comments along the lines of “I swear to God if Kanye West even remotely considers running, I will leave this country and move to Russia.” MHS Student Carly Westermann said, “I would move to Canada…and I hate Canada.”
Although a majority of people plan on either moving to Russia or Canada if Kanye became president, others are trying to find the positive in Kanye’s ludicrous idea. E! Entertainment’s Press secretary Josh Earnest, for example, told NBC News that if Yeezus runs for President in 2020, he looks “forward to seeing what slogan he chooses to embroider on his campaign hat.” There has also been talk that everyone who votes for West will receive their own “Air Yeezy’s”—no promises, though. Yeezus for 2020?
