Yesterday, the internet went pretty well apeshit for Kanye West‘s Video Vanguard Award acceptance speech at the VMAs, which featured him saying “bro” a lot, and culminated in his announcement that he plans to run for President of the United States in 2020.
His possibly-off-the-cuff remarks sent the internet into a state of near-meltdown, as people pondered what a Kanye presidency might look like, which ticket he’d run with, and whether, in the age of Donald Trump, the idea is really that far-fetched.
The United States of Yeezus. #Kanye2020 pic.twitter.com/miifsY9ZTn
— Annie Colbert (@anniecolbert) August 31, 2015
The #Kanye2020 meme has run so far up the chain of command that overnight, even The White House saw fit to respond to it. Per reports in Billboard, the following is now a matter of public record:
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says of the announcement that he looks “forward to seeing what slogan he chooses to embroider on his campaign hat.” Earnest was traveling aboard Air Force One with the president to Alaska.
The last time Kanye made this many ripples in Washington was all the way back in 2005, when he declared “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a telethon for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The current administration may not be taking Kanye’s tilt at the presidency in 2020 all that seriously.
Photo: Michael Tran via Getty Images
