Popular aughts pop star Akon recently went on Sky News and defended Kanye “Ye” West after the rapper’s said he liked Hitler on Alex Jones’s Infowars show. Turns out this isn’t the first time Akon has gone to bat for the rapper and his presidential aspirations.
Back in 2020, the singer, whose real name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, spoke to VladTV about who he would vote for in the election. The conversation turned to Ye’s then-nascent decision to run for office.
“I kinda like the fact that Kanye is going to run if he decides to follow through with it. He should follow through, though. Because Kanye’s a lot smarter than ya’ll think. I would prefer Kanye than Trump. If you had to choose between Kanye and Trump for me it would be Kanye.”
Later in the interview, the interview says that Kanye would quit three months in if he became president. “I’ll be his vice president,” Akon responds.
This shines his recent comments about Ye in a different light. In the Sky News interview, Akon said Ye has the right to speak his own mind and is allowed to say whatever he wants no matter how much it pisses people off.
He also said that open discussion was the way to move forward as opposed to silencing voices or canceling people.
Does this mean that Akon is angling for a spot on the Ye 2024 ticket? Or is he just an intelligent man who’s looking at the issue from all different sides? That’s up to you to decide, but if this is a precursor for a Ye/Akon 2024 campaign, God help us all.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents reached an “all-time high” in 2021, and 2022 is on a similar track. This includes assault, harassment, and vandalism. For more information on the dangers of antisemitic rhetoric and what you can do to stop it, see the American Jewish Committee’s Call to Action Against Antisemitism in America.
