Social media has been in an uproar since Kanye West announced that he will be running for President in November, with some commentators denouncing the rapper for deliberately trying to split the vote and help his friend Donald Trump.
Kanye, who in the past has spoken of his admiration for Donald Trump, announced on July 4 that he will be running for president, foreshadowing a showdown at the polls with the incumbent American president and former Vice President Joe Biden.
“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” he tweeted. “I am running for president of the United States!”
West got an endorsement from SpaceX boss Elon Musk and his wife Kim Kardashian, who replied to his tweet with an emoji of the American flag.
However, it does not appear that West registered his name with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for November’s election.
With Republican and Democrat nominees seemingly cast in stone, West would have to gather a certain amount of signatures and register in states by a particular deadline in order to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate.
The deadline has already passed in some major states but the music star would still technically have time to file in many others.
His candidature however, has railed some people online, with some believing West was trying to help Trump’s re-election by siphoning away votes from Biden.
“Do you guys think this is all a joke?” Actor and Band of Ghosts lead singer Eric Balfour wrote in response to Kardashian’s endorsement of her husband.
“That potentially pulling votes away from the only nominee who can defeat Donald Trump is cute or funny? This is the height of privilege, ultimately it won’t hurt you, you’re wealthy enough to survive 4 more years of Trump!”
Other twitter users were equally scathing, with one commentator saying : “#KanyeWest is running for US president. Come on, who would vote for a narcissistic, egotistical media figure who is so out of touch and rarely if ever says anything that indicates the presence of coherent thought? Um…”
Another person said : “Until we confront and replace the ideologies that lead people to worship Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Kanye West we’ll continue to get more of these men.”