Kanye West that he will run for president in 2020

In the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Kanye West won the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, during his acceptance speech he announced he will run for president in 2020. Which he did end up doing, he announced officially announced his presidential bid on July 4, 2020. Taylor Swift is the one who introduced him and mentions how 6 years ago they met on that very stage when he interrupted her, as well as mentioning at how The College Dropout was the first album she and her brother bought.

Summary of Speech

Kanye West started by thanking Swift and mentioned their complicated past, which began when he interrupted her speech at the 2009 VMAs. He thought back on that moment, questioning his choices like drinking Hennessy, and talked about how people viewed him afterward, like when he got booed at baseball games. He spent a good part of his speech criticizing award shows, questioning if they were fair and how they made artists compete against each other as winners and losers. He remembered being unhappy at the Grammy Awards when singers like Justin Timberlake and Cee Lo Green (from Gnarls Barkley) didn't win top awards despite their popular music. West strongly defended artists needing to have opinions and stand up for their art, saying he would "die for the art," even if it wasn't "polite." He also accused MTV of using his past actions, like the Taylor Swift incident, just to get higher ratings. During the speech, he shared personal feelings, admitting he had smoked some marijuana beforehand and wished people liked him more. He encouraged other artists and young people ("millennials") to believe in themselves, trust their feelings, and teach children truth instead of focusing on brands and hate. West finished his speech with a surprise announcement, he decided to run for president in 2020.

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Event Date: August 30, 2015