Rapper Kanye West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, delivered a freewheeling monologue Sunday touching on topics such as abortion, which left him emotional.
“No more Plan B — Plan A,” he said to a mixed response from the audience about the emergency contraceptive that helps prevent pregnancy within 72 hours after unprotected sex.
West said that while he believed abortion should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice.
“Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said as an example.
Speaking without a microphone, West became tearful while talking about abortion, his mother, who died following plastic surgery complications in 2007, and his wife, reality television star Kim Kardashian West.
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“Even if my wife wants to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world even when I didn’t want to. She stood up and she protected that child. You know who else protected a child? Forty-three years ago, who do you think protected a child?” West said crying.
“My mom saved my life. My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life, there would have been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy,” he said.
Wearing a protective vest and with “2020” shaved into his head, the entertainer spoke before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina.
His rambling speech went from religion to international trade and licensing deals.
“Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people,” he said, apparently trying to make a bigger point about race and advantages. One crowd member right afterward groaned, “Come on, man,” while a woman could be heard saying, “Okay we’re leaving now.”
According to a livestream of the event, it appeared that several hundred people had gathered in a venue, where gospel music played before West’s appearance.
The event was reportedly for registered guests only, although a campaign website had no registration or RSVP information.
West has missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it’s unclear if he was willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others. Last week, he qualified to appear on the presidential ballot in Oklahoma, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline.
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West would need to collect 10,000 signatures by noon Monday to appear on the South Carolina ballot, according to state law. The entertainer tweeted out a list of locations around the Charleston area where petitions could be signed. Email to an address purportedly associated with the campaign was not returned Sunday afternoon to The Associated Press.
West initially announced his candidacy on July 4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
