‘SNL’ Crowd Boos Kanye West for Off-Camera Pro-Trump Speech

Kanye West gave a prolonged, pro-Trump speech after the cameras were off on Saturday Night Live, and the crowd was not pleased.

Videos taken from the live studio audience showed West in his “Make America Great Again” hat, pacing the stage as the rest of the cast and crew stood awkwardly behind him. He spoke about the political divide in the United States, saying that the gap is greater than ever and that Democrats and those on the left — and the cast directly behind him — should be more open-minded to the president’s ideas.

While a few of West’s more generalized ideas got a smattering of applause, the crowd was not altogether pleased with this impromptu speech. A few deep boos echoed out, but West kept speaking anyway. In one clip, taken from Chris Rock’s Instagram Story, an audience member can be heard whispering, “Oh my god,” in awe that West was still going.

Another audience clip showed West apparently condemning the producers behind Saturday Night Live on their very own stage. He accused them of “bullying” him backstage over his choice to wear the controversial hat, though obviously no one stopped him from doing so on the show and in all the promotional material.

“They bullied me, they bullied me backstage,” he said. “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 reiterated his now infamous line about claims that President Trump is racist. West did not deny it, instead saying that he does not care.

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

Perhaps most shockingly of all, West pledged to run for president himself in 2020. This is also something he has talked about on and off in recent years, but he seemed to be past the idea judging by recent posts. However, on Saturday he dropped the news casually, to little response from the paralyzed audience.

All in all, the display was panned on social media as well. A few followers applauded him, though they were overwhelmed by the vast majority of angry listeners. Once again, West’s simple insistence that he would leave the U.S. if racism bothered him struck a bad nerve with some, who pointed out that not everyone has the resources to simply run from their country. Others were even angry at the Saturday Night Live cast and crew for allowing him to hold the audience up for so long.

“Wish at least 1 of the [SNL] cast members would’ve pulled a [Van Lathan] tonight. Superman cape is fake. Just like this alternate reality… All these people, enable him to get even more detached from reality. ‘You can be well guided & still love,’” one user wrote.

Back in May, while West was delivering a similar diatribe on TMZ Live, sports reporters Van Lathan confronted West about the damage his rhetoric could do to other people.

West and the folks behind Saturday Night Live have not responded to the outcry over his improvised speech last night.