Kanye West followed up on his meandering monologue at US President Donald Trump with a quick dip into a local Washington D.C. Apple store, reportedly delivering what he called a “keynote” speech to baffled staff and customers.
Religion News Service reporter Jack Jenkins happened to be at the store at the time of West’s arrival, and managed to snap a few images of the rapper / entrepreneur / prison reform advocate during the ordeal.
Hey I’m feet from Kanye in a DC Apple Store apparently. pic.twitter.com/hTZ9eAB7mB
— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) October 11, 2018
Jenkins wrote West defended Trump during the speech, and used a custom-made hat as evidence.
“He’s announcing he made a hat for Trump that says “‘make America great’ without the ‘again’…and Trump wore it!”” Jenkins said.
He’s announcing he made a hat for Trump that says “made an updated hat that says ‘make America great’ without the ‘again’…and Trump wore it!”
Shows a picture on his iphone of Trump wearing said hat.
Says the “again” part of the original slogan “hurts back people.” pic.twitter.com/mt2vO3Sl86
— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) October 11, 2018
A video shared by someone else at the scene seems to add context to the situation: West appears to have argued the word “Again” in that famous slogan discounts the historically terrible treatment of African-Americans, and that omitting it would be a better deal for everyone.
“…It hurts us as people, specifically black people, the idea, because we say, was America ever great for us? So we made a updated hat that said, lmake America great, and Trump wore the hat so he is open to adjusting and listening” pic.twitter.com/nKgkDUKtga
— Caroline Kelly (@caroline_mkelly) October 11, 2018
It’s not the first unexpected tabletop missive West has delivered. It’s not even the first one he’s done in the past few days. The guy vaulted onto a table at Detroit’s College Of Creative Studies earlier this month to defend another divisive character in the American consciousness – Elon Musk.
Likewise, it’s not the first time West has displayed a strong affinity for Apple. He has been open about his admiration for the company’s founder Steve Jobs, and in the latest chat with Trump, even told him he should replace Air Force One with the ‘iPlane1’, a moniker clearly jacked from the tech juggernaut.
As for what West was actually doing in that store, well, it’s a little unclear. Speculation has abounded online he was simply there for a Genius Bar appointment, but it seems he decided to just be a great big genius himself.
