Sunday night, Kanye West was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (essentially a lifetime achievement award) at the MTV Video Music Awards. During his 11-minute acceptance speech, West covered a variety of topics in true Yeezus fashion: awards shows are pointless, him and Taylor Swift are no longer feuding and are in fact friends, he smoked a little bit before going on stage, and, oh yes, he's going to run for president in 2020.
"And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president."
(Click the little speaker in the corner to turn on the audio of the Vine.)
Earlier in his speech, West declared "I'm not no politician, bro."
Despite the absolute insanity of West's speech, he actually raised a few good points. America's celebrity culture is somewhat toxic, and MTV is most certainly banking on "feuds" that may or may not be made up/stoked by the network. That's not a healthy culture, and West was right to call them out for it.
The VMAs are known for their outlandish antics and debauchery, and this year was no different. While most people expected host Miley Cyrus to be the main story of the night, I don't think anyone could have predicted that Kanye West was going to announce a presidential run.
Unlike fellow rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who announced earlier this year that he intends to run for president in 2016 despite being too young to actually run, West is 38 years old and Constitutionally eligible.
Let the 2020 race begin?