Chance the Rapper walked back his support of Kanye West’s affection for President Donald Trump on Friday, releasing a statement asserting that his backing of West is divorced from his dislike for Trump and promising future advocacy to make up for the conflation.
“We have to talk honestly about what is happening and has been happening in this county and we have to challenge those who are responsible, as well as those who are giving them a pass,” he wrote. “If that happens to include someone I love, someone who is my brother-in-Christ and someone who I believe does really want to do what is right, it is not my job to defend or protect him. It’s my job to pick up the phone and talk to him about it.”
Chance the Rapper added that he personally would never support someone who talks about his hometown of Chicago like it’s “hell on earth” and that while he does believe that black people should get to choose their political ideologies, his comments were poorly timed.
The statement comes on the heels of a Friday morning Trump tweet thanking Chance the Rapper for “getting it” after Chance the Rapper tweeted that “black people don’t have to be Democrats” while West was receiving criticism for his relationship with the President.
