Kanye West Says Harriet Tubman ‘Never Actually Freed The Slaves’
Written by SOURCE on July 19, 2020
On Sunday, Kanye West took a stage in Charleston, South Carolina to hold his first-ever campaign rally, complete with a bullet-proof vest and the year ‘2020’ cut into his hair. During that rally he made the first of (enter your best guess here) suspect comments that will generate headlines until this social experiment comes to an end.
Specifically, he claimed that “Harriet Tubman.. never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people.” The audience fell silent after the comment. But to get a real understanding of how the crowd felt, here’s a clip of the remark with added commentary from the woman filming saying, “Yo, we’re leaving right now.” As you can see from her tweet, she says she indeed left afterward.
Other notes from the event include: Kanye saying that “Democrats ain’t done shit for Blacks!” Kanye saying that the most ridiculous thing he’s heard is that he’ll end up splitting votes. And also Kanye sharing this emotional story in which he indicated he’s opposed to birth control/the morning after pill. As you can see in the clip below, he says that he “almost killed” his daughter, and then followed that up by saying “No more Plan B. Plan A” after he was asked what the point of that anecdote was.
Us Magazine added further context by saying that his wife, Kim Kardashian West, had called him after a doctor’s appointment, when they were still dating, to reveal that she was freaking out because she believed he had given her AIDS due to his crazy show-biz lifestyle. He said she also told him she was pregnant, and that they discussed her taking the pill to end the pregnancy (basically standard presidential rally stuff). West also shared that, even if his wife left him after the speech, she still brought their daughter North into this world.
The speech, which was of the rambling variety (you can watch here) had Kanye alternate between being sad, angry, and happy, and also included several audience interruptions from those in attendance either directly asking questions, or looking to hug West.
As will likely be the norm for at least while, the rally drew a sizable reaction outside of the room it was held in.
