Kanye West made headlines after delivering emotional, bombastic and polarizing remarks at his first campaign rally following his decision to run for president — and friends and his in-laws are deeply concerned, claims a new report.
At the July 19 rally at the Exquis Event Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, the rapper and designer-turned politician — who wore a security vest and had "2020" shaved into his hair — upset some attendees when he claimed that abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and helped rescue dozens of enslaved people, "never actually freed the slaves. She just had the slaves go work for other white people."
During his monologue, Kanye also shared some deeply personal revelations about abortion, confessing that he and wife Kim Kardashian West considered terminating her first pregnancy — they now have four kids — but that he changed his mind after God intervened and told him not to. According to USA Today, Kanye told the audience, "So even if my wife were to divorce me after this speech, she brought [our daughter] North into the world, even when I didn't want to. She stood up, and she protected that child."
He also broke down in tears while talking about how his own father wanted his mother to abort him and, USA Today also reported, said that though he'd fight to keep abortion legal, he believes in an option he described as "maximum increase" that would see "everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars or something in that range."
Some people at the rally walked out, and they're not the only ones with concerns. TMZ spoke to sources connected to Kanye who claim, as TMZ writes, that "he has concerned, upset and alarmed many of his friends and the Kardashians." According to TMZ, "those around him believe Kanye is in desperate need of professional help and is in the middle of a serious bipolar episode, but he won't listen to them."
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There are fears that Kanye's comments will negatively affect the billionaire Yeezy designer's business and "trigger boycotts," as TMZ put it.
Kim, Kanye's wife of six years, did not publicly react to his comments about her in the day that followed his rally, but TMZ has been told that Kim's family "is upset that Kanye talked about Kim's first pregnancy and how they discussed abortion." TMZ points out that it's "curious" Kanye mentioned the possibility that Kim would divorce him for speaking out like this about their private life, as the webloid believes it implies that the couple have discussed ending their marriage.
On top of all this, TMZ reports, Kanye's family and friends are unhappy he's saying these things as he pursues the presidency on the "Birthday Party" ticket "because they feel Kanye is a distraction to what is a very important election," the webloid writes.
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Despite alleged concern over Kanye's mental health and his private revelations, however, sources told TMZ that the Kardashians are not concerned that the "Birthday Party" candidate's remarks will negatively affect Kim's brand because, it writes, "their money is separate and her and Kanye's brands are distinguishable."