Kanye West won’t be allowed to “lecture” President Obama at his DNC performance
As we previously reported, 2020 presidential candidate Kanye West has been tapped to debut a couple new songs from his upcoming album SWISH at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco. President Obama is also set to attend the event—thus reminding everyone of the time he called West a “jackass” in 2009 and a “smart, talented jackass” in 2012.
But now PageSix has some hot gossip on how DNC members are responding to the news. One committeeman, named Robert Zimmerman, is using the announcement to throw jabs at the RNC. “Kanye will be an exciting draw, especially compared to the Republicans booking Wayne Newton or Clint Eastwood,” he bragged. “We all know how well that turned out.” (Good one, Zimmerman!)
But another PageSix quote from an unnamed source clarifies that West won’t have free reign at the event. “There will be restrictions,” the source explains. “Kanye won’t be able to lecture the president about how to run the country.”
While it’s a funny line, because West is known for his off-the-wall speeches, it’s also weirdly condescending towards an artist who’s helping the DNC charge up to $10,000 per ticket. It’s also hard to imagine other outspoken musicians like Bono or The Dixie Chicks being told not to “lecture” the president.
Then again, West’s boyish enthusiasm for life and cavalier dismissal of authority has long suggested he may actually be a 13-year-old boy living a real-life version of the movie Big, so perhaps a few extra reminders about political etiquette are in order.