Kanye West feels President Barack Obama used him as a “punching bag” in 2009.
The rapper has spoken openly about his fallout with the US commander-in-chief, who called him a “jacka*s” for stealing the mic from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards.
West feels the politician jumped on the bandwagon during the height of his unpopularity and he’s tired of being used as a scapegoat.
“I don’t care if somebody’s the president or not. I care about thoughts and how you’re helping people and what you bring to the world,” West told radio station Hot 107.9.
“I just think that we’re pop icons, and the president likes to use that type of thing just to be down and stuff. People was fine with me being everyone’s punching bag for about five years… [People would say] ‘Man, this is the person we love to hate, so if you want to distract people from everything that’s going on, just say you hate Kanye and there’s going be 30 other people who say they hate Kanye.'”
The 36-year-old is now engaged to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named North, in June.
The newly-minted family man says he’ll never forget when Obama called him out, however.
“That was kind of my position in culture so he also used that too – ‘Oh, he’s a jacka*s’ – because that’s how the world felt,” he fumed.
West cooled down when talking about his own music, and says all he cares about is making songs for his fans.
He even promised that from now on he won’t bring up the spat with Obama, explaining that it detracts from the present moment.
“My music brings joy to people, what I create brings joy to people. Me, I’m not about me,” he said.
“I’m not gonna mention him no more, I’m past that. That’s out of my thoughts; that’s lowering my priority of thinking at this point.”
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