Kanye West announces he's running for President and reunites with Taylor Swift on stage at MTV VMAs 2015
Oh, what a night! Kanye West announced his intention to run for the US presidency tonight (August 30) at the MTV Video Music Awards – with a little help from Taylor Swift.
The reigning king of hip-hop was honoured with the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award by the 'Wildest Dreams' singer at the culmination of the MTV gala.
The segment began with some philosophical narration by Samuel L Jackson in a montage set to the strains of 'Runaway', before Swift took to the stage to reflect on her and West's awkward history.
"I first met Kanye six years ago at this show," she joked. "Since then, we've had a lot of time to talk about a lot of different things.
"Something you may not know is that College Dropout is the first album me and my brother ever bought on iTunes when I was 12 years old."
Humorously referencing their 2009 onstage row, Taylor quipped: "I'm gonna let you finish! But, Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time, and right now I'm honoured to present the Video Vanguard to my friend Kanye West."
Hugged by wife Kim Kardashian-West before accepting the Moonman, the rapper appeared genuinely moved by a standing ovation from an all-star crowd.
A smiling West then engaged in a lengthy and at times heated rant: "Thank you Taylor for being so gracious and giving me this award this evening. I often think back to the first day I met you, also… I think about it when I go to a baseball game, and 60,000 people boo me.
"I think if I had to do it all again, what would I have done?" he went on to say. "Would I have drank half a bottle of Hennessy and gave the rest to the audience? If I had a daughter at that time, would I have run on stage and grabbed the mic from someone else's… After that night, the stage was gone. The effect that it had on people remained.
"The problem was the contradiction. I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn't know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing… The small boxes that we are as entertainers of the evening, how could you explain that? Sometimes I feel like that all this shit that they run – sometimes I feel like I died for artists to have an opinion after they were successful.
"I'm not a politician. You know how many times they ran that footage again – because it got them more ratings? You know how many times MTV announced Taylor was going to give me the award because it got them more ratings? Listen to the kids, bro!
"I still don't understand award shows! I don't understand how they get five people who worked their entire life to come stand on a carpet, and for the first time of their lives be judged on the chopping block and have the opportunity to be considered a loser. I don't understand it! I just wanted people to like me more.
"But f**k that, bro! 2015 – I will die for the art, for what I believe in. The art ain't always gonna be polite. Ya'all might be wondering, 'Was he smoking something before he came out here?' The answer is yes. I rolled up a little something to knock the edge off! I don't know what's gonna happen tonight or tomorrow, bro. All I can say to my fellow artists is just worry about how you feel at the time. I'm confident. I believe in myself. We are the millennials.
"This is a new mentality. We're not gonna control our kids with brands, and we're not gonna teach low self-esteem or hate. We're gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves. If my grandfather was here now, he would not let me back down. I don't know what I'm gonna lose after this, but it's not about me. It's about ideas – people who believe in truth. Yes, as you probably could have noticed, I have decided to run for president in 2020."
Watch out Donald Trump - a new political power-house has been born!
While West is perhaps most associated with interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 ceremony, he is also a three-time VMAs winner.
His 'Jesus Walks' clip won Best Male Video video in 2005, and three years later he won Best Special Effects for 'Good Life'.
Earlier in the 2015 ceremony, his collaborative 'One Man Can Change the World' video with Big Sean won the Video with a Social Message sign.
Tonight's MTV ceremony also included a show-stopping performance from Swift and Nicki Minaj, and the comeback of Justin Bieber.
Miley Cyrus hosted The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards tonight (August 30) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
The reigning king of hip-hop was honoured with the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award by the 'Wildest Dreams' singer at the culmination of the MTV gala.
© Getty Images / Kevin Winter/MTV1415
The segment began with some philosophical narration by Samuel L Jackson in a montage set to the strains of 'Runaway', before Swift took to the stage to reflect on her and West's awkward history.
"I first met Kanye six years ago at this show," she joked. "Since then, we've had a lot of time to talk about a lot of different things.
"Something you may not know is that College Dropout is the first album me and my brother ever bought on iTunes when I was 12 years old."
Humorously referencing their 2009 onstage row, Taylor quipped: "I'm gonna let you finish! But, Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time, and right now I'm honoured to present the Video Vanguard to my friend Kanye West."
© MTV / Kevin Winter/MTV1415
Hugged by wife Kim Kardashian-West before accepting the Moonman, the rapper appeared genuinely moved by a standing ovation from an all-star crowd.
A smiling West then engaged in a lengthy and at times heated rant: "Thank you Taylor for being so gracious and giving me this award this evening. I often think back to the first day I met you, also… I think about it when I go to a baseball game, and 60,000 people boo me.
"I think if I had to do it all again, what would I have done?" he went on to say. "Would I have drank half a bottle of Hennessy and gave the rest to the audience? If I had a daughter at that time, would I have run on stage and grabbed the mic from someone else's… After that night, the stage was gone. The effect that it had on people remained.
"The problem was the contradiction. I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn't know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing… The small boxes that we are as entertainers of the evening, how could you explain that? Sometimes I feel like that all this shit that they run – sometimes I feel like I died for artists to have an opinion after they were successful.
"I'm not a politician. You know how many times they ran that footage again – because it got them more ratings? You know how many times MTV announced Taylor was going to give me the award because it got them more ratings? Listen to the kids, bro!
© Getty Images / Kevin Winter/MTV1415
"I still don't understand award shows! I don't understand how they get five people who worked their entire life to come stand on a carpet, and for the first time of their lives be judged on the chopping block and have the opportunity to be considered a loser. I don't understand it! I just wanted people to like me more.
"But f**k that, bro! 2015 – I will die for the art, for what I believe in. The art ain't always gonna be polite. Ya'all might be wondering, 'Was he smoking something before he came out here?' The answer is yes. I rolled up a little something to knock the edge off! I don't know what's gonna happen tonight or tomorrow, bro. All I can say to my fellow artists is just worry about how you feel at the time. I'm confident. I believe in myself. We are the millennials.
"This is a new mentality. We're not gonna control our kids with brands, and we're not gonna teach low self-esteem or hate. We're gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves. If my grandfather was here now, he would not let me back down. I don't know what I'm gonna lose after this, but it's not about me. It's about ideas – people who believe in truth. Yes, as you probably could have noticed, I have decided to run for president in 2020."
Watch out Donald Trump - a new political power-house has been born!
While West is perhaps most associated with interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 ceremony, he is also a three-time VMAs winner.
His 'Jesus Walks' clip won Best Male Video video in 2005, and three years later he won Best Special Effects for 'Good Life'.
Earlier in the 2015 ceremony, his collaborative 'One Man Can Change the World' video with Big Sean won the Video with a Social Message sign.
Tonight's MTV ceremony also included a show-stopping performance from Swift and Nicki Minaj, and the comeback of Justin Bieber.
Miley Cyrus hosted The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards tonight (August 30) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
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