Kanye West Has Reportedly Asked His Campaign Staff to Stop ‘Fornicating’ Outside of Marriage
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Kanye West’s “perplexing” presidential run is at the center of a new piece in the New York Times. According to individuals involved in the rapper’s campaign, he has an unusual request for his staffers, who he’s told to stop “fornicating” outside of marriage.
West, who invented the “Birthday Party” as his political affiliation, entered the presidential race too late to make the ballot in most states. New York Magazine reported in July that the rapper has around 180 people on his campaign staff, many of whom were tasked with getting him on the ballots in Florida and Texas. Their efforts were unsuccessful, but he’ll appear on the ballot in nine states, including Colorado, Minnesota and Iowa. Still, it remains statistically impossible for him to earn enough electoral votes to become president.
Some Democrats worry that West’s last-minute campaign will take away votes from Joe Biden. Others believe the rapper’s conservative positions fall more in line with President Donald Trump’s base. West’s strong Christian beliefs permeate many of his political views, including bringing prayer back to schools and giving more government support to religious groups.
West communicated with the New York Times through a series of calls and texts, which the newspaper suggested were erratic. At one point, he insisted on speaking to the editor via Zoom. “I’m Kanye, who are you?” West asked when the editor joined the Zoom call. The rapper added, “I’m the head of everything,” before criticizing the Democrats’ view on abortion and asking, “Does anyone at your magazine believe in Jesus?”
West’s anti-abortion sentiment has been a major part of his campaign. The New York Times reported that it’s the topic he brought up most in their discussions, although he isn’t for banning abortions. ““You can’t do that,” he said. “I don’t want to ban or stop or point fingers at anything.”
Instead, he suggested “stipends for families that need support, creating orphanages that are really high-level desirable for people to go to, and the redesign of communities and cities in general to be supporting of families.” West also sent the newspaper a handwritten outline of his plan to build an “eco-village” called Birthday Lake, where mothers could “safely experience pregnancy and birth,” and their children would be cared for afterwards.
Rolling Stone reported earlier this month that West has personally spent nearly $7 million on his campaign, with most of that money going towards hiring consultants. Those advisors have since hired additional campaign workers and recruited volunteers to spread campaign awareness. The New York Times didn’t elaborate on why West felt the need to tell his team to stop “fornicating” outside of marriage, or if he has any reason to believe they’re doing so.
Mercury Public Affairs, a bipartisan consulting firm based in New York, was dismissed last month after helping to organize West’s campaign. “Our role was limited to helping the campaign get started up, primarily by helping to recruit a ballot access team and launch that effort,” Michael McKeon, a partner at the firm, told the New York Times. “For a short time, we served as a liaison between the campaign and the team until they established independent relationships. That happened weeks ago, ending our involvement.”
West also hired Millennial Strategies, a Democratic-leaning consulting firm, and the Atlas Strategy Group, a Republic-leaning one, to aide his campaign. Millennial Strategies parted ways with the rapper in July following his campaign rally in South Carolina, during which he broke down in tears and revealed he almost aborted his oldest daughter, North West. The rapper also took heat for saying during the rally that Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves.”
