Kanye West confirms 2024 US presidential run with alt-right figure working on his campaign, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Kanye West confirms 2024 US presidential run with alt-right figure working on his campaign

This article is more than 12 months old

LOS ANGELES – Controversial American rapper-businessman Kanye West has confirmed he is running to be president of the United States in 2024, with the help of alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos.

According to entertainment portal Consequence Of Sound, the music mogul, who failed in his 2020 presidential bid, said to paparazzi: “Yes… It’s simple…. It’s just we’re moving toward the future.”

West, 45, has been associating with the alt-right recently, such as his purchase of Parler, a conservative social networking platform, and introduced Yiannopoulos as someone “who is working on the campaign”.

He is a former senior editor at Breitbart News Network, a far-right news website, and most recently interned for Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Yiannopoulos, 38, who is British but based in the United States, made the news in 2019 when he was barred from entering Australia for a tour after making comments about the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.

The provocative political commentator also frequently airs his views on Islam, feminism and the LGBTQ+ community, and has been permanently banned from Twitter and Facebook.

West’s previous presidential bid, under the banner of the Birthday Party, only managed to garner 70,000 votes.

He has made headlines in recent months, with his anti-Semitic rants in October leading to him losing a number of sponsors and partnerships, including his collaborations with Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga.

West, who changed his name legally to Ye, also courted controversy with his White Lives Matter slogan on T-shirts for his Yeezy line at Paris Fashion Week in October.

MUSICIANSsocial mediaUS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020