By For the third time in his career, Kanye West has deleted his official Twitter and Instagram accounts after vocalizing his support for Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” Although his comments didn’t air, Chris Rock was in the audience and later posted a recording on his Instagram story.
As the video of West’s rant went viral, viewers immediately took to social media and expressed how it was unfair the cast and audience members seemed to be held on stage like hostages, forced to listen to words that were unplanned and unwanted.
This was unfair — just because he has differing political views, doesn’t mean he isn’t entitled to his own opinion. Despite his political views, whether you choose to agree with it or not, it is not your place to say that a person cannot express their opinion..
Cast member Kenan Thompson expressed how shocked he was about the incident. “I felt so bad for those guys because it’s hard to stand there and not be able to debate somebody who is going so far against your personal opinion,” he said.
Although West’s success with his recent album “Ye” has earned him his eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard Top 200 chart, he’s faced criticism and backlash recently for his support of Donald Trump.
It’s ludacris that he’s expected to have a certain political stance just because he’s a well-known artist.
While wearing his Make America Great Again hat, West grabbed cast members to join him on stage and immediately began his rant telling the audience how others, including SNL members, mistreated him.
“They bully me, they bullied me backstage saying, ‘don’t go out there with that hat on.’ They bullied me backstage! They bully me! And then they say I’m in the sunken place,” West said.
Regardless of your own thoughts and opinions about our president, no one should be hushed or tormented to the point where they feel their words aren’t holding any value, especially on a popular platform. I mean aren’t we trying to progress as a country to where being silent is no longer an option? He voiced his opinion, you don’t agree with it, that’s fine.
So many people have lost their respect for him and it’s unfair. He’s his own man and we’re all divergent. He shouldn’t be reprimanded just because he spoke his mind and shared what he believes in and we shouldn’t pressure him into the a particular opinion just because we want him to think a certain way. He’s a human being who happens to support Donald Trump, let him be.
Maybe West did need a social media break, but to punish him for expressing his thoughts is cruel and high school behavior.
And SNL did bully West. It was pretty unreasonable that it didn’t air his rant. Isn’t the point of being live to broadcast in real time, as the events are happening? His speech was very real and deserved to have air time. They censored his right to say what he wanted to say and that one-sided mindset is why so many other people are afraid to speak up.
It’s becoming normalized to immediately shut down and reject a person or opinion because it’s different or offends someone. No one listens.
While I might not agree with his political views, I’m not going to discourage or put his beliefs down.
He knows people may not agree with him, but he’s determined to live in a country where he is free to be himself. During his rant, West said, “If you want the world to move forward, try love. Thank y’all for giving me this platform.”
That is a statement I can agree with. Love freely and unconditionally and always respect others’ opinions. Debate and discuss, don’t demean and dismiss.
