Donald Trump Calls Kanye West ‘Great’ After Rapper Defends Him on ‘SNL’

President Donald Trump responded to this weekend’s explosive season premiere of Saturday Night Live, applauding Kanye West for taking a stand on his behalf.

As expected, West caused a stir by wearing one of the president’s signature “Make America Great Again” hats during his performances on SNL. He also gave a prolonged speech at the end of the show, after the cameras were off, calling out the divide in American politics and stating his ongoing support for the president. President Trump was apparently grateful, setting aside his disdain for the NBC sketch comedy show to tweet his praise for West.

“Like many, I don’t watch Saturday Night Live (even though I past hosted it) – no longer funny, no talent or charm,” he wrote. “It is just a political ad for the Dems. Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told ‘no’), was great. He’s leading the charge!”

Shortly afterward, he tweeted more generally about African-American unemployment rates, arguing that he and the Republican party have done more to earn “the Black Vote” than the Democratic party.

West did not respond to the president’s tweet, though he spent much of the afternoon on Twitter. After declaring that he would be hosting Saturday Night Live himself by the end of 2018, he announced plans to bring a group of 100 dancers to TMZ Live on Monday. He also made a few declarations about how he intended to change culture in general.

West’s speech after the SNL broadcast ended went viral on Sunday morning. It was filmed from the audience by former cast member Chris Rock, and in a few other clips taken on various TVs and monitors. In it, he paced the stage in front of an awkwardly still SNL cast, and called out the news and the media as a whole for what he believes is a left-leaning bias.

“They bullied me, they bullied me backstage,” he said of the production team. “They said ‘don’t go out there with that hat on…’ Okay, I’m going to listen to y’all now, or I’m going to put my Superman cape on,” he said, putting the hat back on, “because this means you can’t tell me what to do.”

West also addressed the accusations that the trump administration is racist. Though he did not deny the claims, he did seemed to say that they did not bother him.

“If I was concerned about racism, I would have moved out of America a long time ago,” he said.

West said the same thing earlier this year when he first returned to Twitter and voiced his support for the president. The statement has been heavily criticized by fans, who have said that not all victims of racism have the resources or ability to simply flee the country.