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Kanye West on Jimmy Kimmel Live: All the key moments

'I've thought about casket design and I've thought about a tombstone that says: 'Are you happy now?''

 

Christopher Hooton
Friday 10 August 2018 10:58 BST
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Kanye West on being bipolar

Kanye West was the main guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night, speaking to the host about free speech, porn and mental health.

It was a meandering interview as they often are with West, the conversation frequently going on a tangent from the original question.

Here are the key quotes and exchanges:

On Trump endorsement and the freedom of opinions in 2018:

"As a musician, African American, a guy out in Hollywood - all these different things - everyone around me tried to pick my candidate for me, and then told me every time I said I liked Trump that I couldn't say it out loud or my career would be over, or I'd get kicked out the black community,

Because blacks are supposed to have a monolithic thought, we can only be democrats

On having the strength to speak one's mind:

"I said it [backing Trump] right before I went to the hospital, and I expressed myself, and when I came out I had lost my confidence so I didn't have the confidence to take on the world and the backlash. And it took me a year and a half to have the confidence to stand up and put on the hat no matter what the consequences were, and what it represented to me is not about policies, because I'm not a politician like that, but it represented overcoming fear and doing what you felt no matter what anyone said, and saying you can't bully me, liberals can't bully me, news can't bully me, the hip-hop community can't bully me. Because at that point if I'm afraid to be me I'm no longer 'Ye. That's what makes 'Ye. And I actually quite enjoy when people are mad at me about certain things."

On escaping bubbles:

"We get too caught up in the past and what everyone's saying and what everyone's tweeting, and sometimes you just have to be fearless enough to break the fucking simulation. And when I say simulation - sorry I know you guys wanted to clap but everything I'ma say's gonna be amazing..."

"We are too protective. Can you imagine me talking to my publicist when I say I'm gonna go on TV again [laughter]?"

On Trump:

Kimmel: "You so famously and so powerfully said George Bush doesn't care about black people makes me wonder what makes you think that Donald Trump does or any people at all?"

[Silence]

Kimmel: "Why don't we take a break, we'll come back."

On porn:

Kimmel: "Has your attitude changed since having daughters?"

"Nah I still look at Pornhub [all laugh].

Kimmel: "What kinda stuff do you look at what categories?"

"Blacked is my favourite. Uhh..."

Kimmel: "You don't have to go into that."

"I mean what's the point in being Kanye West if you can't break down the porn categories.

"Ummm, a lot of black on white, obviously."

Kimmel: "Mirroring your own self, your own situation."

"My own reality."

On suicidal thoughts and designing his own tombstone:

"I was inspired after seeing this Alexander McQueen film because this was a beautiful, amazing artist that killed himself and he always would talk about it - he even designed his own casket, and I've thought about casket design and I've thought about a tombstone that says: 'Are you happy now?'"

Kimmel: "When you have thoughts like that you have to be careful and talk to people."

"Yeah but you have to - well, not be careful just be expressive."

[Later]

"I think it's important for us to have open conversations about mental health, especially with me being black because we never had therapists in the black community, we never approached, like, taking medication, and I think it's good when I had my first complete blackout aged five that my mum didn't fully medicate me because I might have never been 'Ye.

"I'm 41 years old and I don't know anyone that has fucked up as much as I have and is still as successful, so I wanna prove that you can get fat, you can say the wrong thing, you can piss a whole city off...

Kimmel: "And you can be President of the United States."

-----

For confidential support call Samaritans on 116 123.

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