“It didn’t bother me. Why wouldn’t you?”
In an interview with Channel 4 News on 1 April, Run The Jewels‘ Killer Mike commented on Kanye West‘s meeting with Trump last December at Trump Tower.
West was criticised for voicing his support for the President last year. It came as a surprise to many as West had donated thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. After the meeting at Trump Tower, he posted a series of tweets – which have since been deleted – offering an explanation: “I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues… These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago. I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change.”
Voicing his opinion on the matter, Killer Mike compared West to figures who have previously sought out their opponents. He said, “It didn’t bother me, why wouldn’t you [meet the President]? Black people shouldn’t have permanent friends or enemies, they should have permanent interest. If it wasn’t for Dr. Martin Luther King being willing to meet with people like [Governor] George Wallace, Wallace would have not have ended up starting as a racist bigot and ending as a person who found God in some way, and appointed more blacks to his office than any other governor since.”
He also compared West’s actions to Jim Brown’s fight. “A musician meeting a presidential candidate isn’t important to me, unlike Jim Brown,” he said. “Jim Brown, for the last 50 years, has fought against the oppression of all people. Him sitting with President Trump was a significant thing for me, because I know on the other side of the table he was telling the truth.”
Watch a segment of the discussion below.