Kanye West may be finished with Donald Trump. The hip-hop artist—who’d previously expressed support for Trump’s candidacy and appeared with him in December for a highly publicized meeting at Trump Tower—has apparently deleted all tweets originally written in support of the president. This comes after months of intense backlash to Kanye’s election-themed commentary.
After the election, Kanye admitted to not having voted, but he added that, if he had cast a ballot, it would have been for Trump. (This was in contrast to records showing he’d donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the summer of 2015.) He canceled the remaining dates on his U.S. Saint Pablo Tour a few days later in response to a disastrous performance in Sacramento where he attacked Beyoncé and public radio, and shortly afterward was placed under medical observation for his own health and safety. In December, upon his release from hospitalization, West argued for communication and aligning with President Trump as a goal, saying “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future president if we truly want change.”
It’s worth noting that Kanye has deleted tweets en masse before, especially as they’ve related to specific individuals and controversies. Further, TMZ is reporting that there is a clear motivation behind Kanye’s apparent change of heart: He’s not pleased with Trump’s performance as president. “Our sources say Kanye’s decision to remove the tweets were all his,” TMZ’s post on the news reads. “The ‘Muslim ban’ and other actions have turned him against the prez.” TMZ has provided no additional or clarifying details, and Slate has not confirmed any specific motive behind the deletion of Kanye’s Trump-related tweets.
