Kanye on His Response to Kimmel’s Trump Question: “I Wasn’t Stumped”

On Thursday night, Kanye West made an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” At one point in the interview, Kimmel asked Kanye: “Whether we like his personality or not, his actions are really what matter. You so famously and so powerfully said ‘George Bush doesn’t care about black people.’ It makes me wonder, what makes you think that Donald Trump does?” Kanye then went silent for a few seconds until the show went to commercial.

Kanye has now addressed his lack of response to the question. “On Jimmy Kimmel we had a great time having a dialogue,” he writes. “I’m reading that I was stumped by a question. Let me clarify the click bait. I wasn’t stumped. I wasn’t given a chance to answer the question.” In another Tweet, he adds, “The question was so important I took time to think. And then I was hit with the let’s go to commercial break.”

Kimmel also weighed in, writing, “Not every question warrants an immediate answer. Some answers need to be considered and a talk show with time constraints is a difficult place to do that. I know how much Kanye cares and I am so impressed by what he is doing quietly and without fanfare to help those who need it.”

During the episode, Kimmel wore Yeezys and acknowledged the “dragon energy” in the room during his monologue. He also asked Kanye questions about if he would consider designing uniforms for Trump’s Space Force and if Kanye was concerned when his wife Kim Kardashian was alone in the Oval Office with Trump.

Yesterday, Trump took to Twitter to express gratitude towards Kanye. “Thank you to Kanye West and the fact that he is willing to tell the TRUTH,” he wrote. “One new and great FACT - African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in the history of our Country. So honored by this. Thank you Kanye for your support. It is making a big difference!”

Earlier today, Kanye shared a new song called “XTCY.”

Read “Kanye West and Why the Myth of ‘Genius’ Must Die” on the Pitch.