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West, who is married to reality TV star Kim Kardashian, said
he planned to run for the White House in 2020 at the end of a
rambling speech at the MTV Video Music Awards show in Los
Angeles last month.
The declaration was largely seen as a joke, but asked whether he
intended to go ahead, the "Jesus Walks" singer told Vanity Fair
magazine "Oh, definitely."
Grammy-winning West, 38, said that after the initial, stunned
reaction people were positive about the idea, despite his
reputation for angry outbursts.
"As soon as I said that, it was like, 'Wait a second, we would
really be into that, because actually if you think about it,
he’s extremely thoughtful. Every time he’s ever gotten in
trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone
else. He’s probably the most honest celebrity that we have.' I
didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun," West
was quoted as telling the magazine.
"I sit in clubs and I’m like, Wow, I’ve got five years before I
go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve
got a lot of growing up to do."
West, who has not said which political party he would represent,
noted that his father has two masters degrees and that his late
mother, a university English professor, had a Ph.D and worked
for civil rights organizations.
"It’s fun to be a rock star, and I’ll never not be one I guess,
but there’ll be a point where I become my mother’s child," he
said.
Supporters of West have already launched a political action
committee called Ready for Kanye in the hope he will run as a
Republican. So far the group has under 100 followers on Facebook
and Twitter.
West this week was ranked the world's 7th highest-paid hip-hop
act by Forbes magazine with an estimated $22 million in earnings
from music, his fashion line, and product endorsements over the
past year. Sean 'P.Diddy' Combs was top with an estimated $60
million.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and
Andrew Hay)
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