Kanye West Highlights First 2020 Presidential Rally With Outrageous Harriet Tubman Remarks

It didn’t take long for Kanye West to say something outrageous following his decision to enter himself into the 2020 presidential election. On Sunday, the music mogul held his first-ever campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina where he claimed Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people.”

The audience was completely stunned at his remark as video recorded from the event indicates. The rally was held at the Exquis Event Center where attendees were required to wear a mask and sign a liability release for COVID-19.

Tubman, who was born into slavery, is known for not only escaping but going back and freeing upwards of 300 slaves as a result of the Underground Railroad. In 2019, a film called Harriet documented her life and her role in American history. Cynthia Erivo starred as the title character with Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn and Janelle Monae also in the cast.

West announced on July 4 that he would be entering the race. He tweeted that now is the time for him to run because “we must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future.” He also used the “2020 vision” in his messaging. To combat his late entry into the race, West shared on Saturday a petition to get his supporters to help him land his name on the South Carolina ballot.

In West’s initial announcement about putting his name on the ballot, he quickly earned some support from some big heavy-hitters in pop culture. Among those was Elon Musk, who tweeted that West had his “full support.” His wife, Kim Kardashian, also shared her support for her husband’s next endeavor. While he had a few notable people stand by him, many others were thrown off by his decision, some going as far to mock his attempt. Meghan McCain didn’t hold back on The View when call him “unhinged and erratic” after he broke the news.

Over the past two weeks, West’s name has been all over the headlines, including a lengthy interview with Forbes that saw the “Gold Digger” singer share some controversial remarks. Among some of those comments was his take on Planned Parenthood, which he says is run by white supremacists who do “the Devil’s work.”