Comedian Dave Chappelle said in an upcoming CNN interview, taped last week, that although he supports Kanye West, the rapper “shouldn’t say all that s***” aligning himself with President Donald Trump.
West tweeted a picture of a Make America Great Again hat last month with a caption calling for the abolition of the 13th Amendment, which freed slaves in the United States but allowed for the indentured servitude of convicted criminals. West has alleged that “to take the fathers out the home and promote welfare … is a Democratic plan” and that slavery was “a choice.”
In an interview with CNN’s Van Jones and 2018 Democratic Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, set to air at 7 p.m. ET Saturday, Jones asked Chappelle what he thought of West’s recent statements against the Democratic Party.
“First of all, you know, Kanye’s the artist, man,” Chappelle said in the interview, which was taped before West’s meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday. “And he’s a genius.”
“I think the angle he’s seeing things from is about the division that he sees. And — and he’s not inconsistent with what he’s saying,” Chappelle added, citing a previous instance of West reappropriating the Confederate flag.
In 2013, West wore a patch of the Confederate flag on his jacket and told Los Angeles radio station 97.1 AMP, “The Confederate flag represented slavery in a way … So I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag. It’s my flag now.”
Chappelle stressed that he personally supported West and trusted his intentions, but that the rapper shouldn’t be promoting that kind of rhetoric.
“I’m not mad at Kanye. That’s my brother — I love him, I support him,” Chappelle said. “But, you know, I don’t have to agree with everything that he says … I just trust him as a person of intent. But yeah, he shouldn’t say all that s***.”
Chappelle also predicted that the real implications of the Trump presidency will be felt after the fact, comparing it to saying things during an argument with a spouse that can’t be taken back.
“The thing that’s scary about this presidency is after it,” Chapelle said. “I don’t know if you’ve been married before or had a girlfriend and said something in a fight that was so wrong.”
“And then after that … we’re still family, we’re still around each other,” Chappelle added. “But man, I sure did say all that s***, didn’t I?”
