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      in US Politics

      Lorde and Mick Jagger urge politicians to seek permission before using music

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      Music stars including Lorde, Sia and Mick Jagger have signed an open letter demanding politicians gain clearance to their music before using songs in campaign advertising or events.The letter, produced in partnership with the Artist Rights Alliance, urges political parties to “establish clear policies requiring campaigns to seek consent” from any artists they hope to feature.“This is the only way to effectively protect your candidates from legal risk, unnecessary public controversy, and the moral quagmire that comes from falsely claiming or implying an artist’s support or distorting an artists’ expression in such a high stakes public way,” the letter reads.Using a song without going through the correct channels is called “dishonest and immoral” and publicised use “can compromise an artist’s personal values while disappointing and alienating fans – with great moral and economic cost”.The letter also warns that improper use can “inevitably draw even the most reluctant or apolitical artists off the sidelines, compelling them to explain the ways they disagree with candidates wrongfully using their music”.While it’s stated that this isn’t a partisan issue, its arrival comes after many artists have expressed outrage over their music being used by Donald Trump and his team. Stars including Pharrell Williams, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen have all made their displeasure known while most recently Neil Young has said he is reconsidering legal action after Rockin’ in the Free World continues to be played at rallies.Other signatories of the letter include Sia, Alanis Morissette, Lionel Richie, Elvis Costello, Regina Spektor, Sheryl Crow and Steven Tyler. It calls for a request for a plan on how to deal with the issue in future by 10 August. More

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      in Elections

      Kim Kardashian requests compassion for Kanye West's bipolar disorder

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      Kim Kardashian West has spoken for the first time about her husband Kanye West’s bipolar disorder after he posted and deleted a string of erratic tweets regarding his family life after the launch of his presidential campaign in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday.“Those who are close with Kanye know his heart and understand his words sometimes do not align with his intentions,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories.The fashion and reality TV mogul said she had previously avoided commenting on West’s mental health in order to protect her children and West’s right to privacy. In breaking that silence, she said she wished to address the “stigma and misconceptions” surrounding mental health.She wrote: “Those that understand mental illness or even compulsive behaviour know that the family is powerless unless the member is a minor. People who are unaware or far removed from this experience can be judgmental and not understand that the individual themselves have to engage in the process of getting help no matter how hard family and friends try.”In the US, involuntary hospitalisation and treatment is deemed to violate an individual’s civil rights. An individual must pose a danger to themselves or others in order to be held, for evaluation only, which typically lasts no longer than 72 hours. An elderly or “gravely disabled” person may be placed under a conservatorship. Britney Spears has been subject to such an arrangement since she experienced a breakdown in 2008, which has given rise to controversy over its appropriateness to her situation.West was willingly admitted to hospital in 2016, after an emergency call regarding his welfare during a period of erratic behaviour.Kardashian West added: “I understand Kanye is subject to criticism because he is a public figure and his actions at times can cause strong opinions and emotions. He is a brilliant but complicated person who on top of the pressures of being an artist and a black man, who experienced the painful loss of his mother, and has to deal with the pressure and isolation that is heightened by his bipolar disorder.”West has been subject to more widespread media attention than usual since he announced his presidential campaign in early July. While he is not thought to have filed official paperwork, he has tweeted asking fans to get him on the ballot in certain states.In Charleston on Monday, he gave a rambling address referencing the terms of his deal with Adidas for his fashion brand Yeezy, his faith in God and racism in the US, including an assertion that “[abolitionist] Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people”. He has since expressed doubt over whether to continue with his run this year, or postpone until 2024.Kardashian West asked the media and the public to give their family “compassion and empathy” and thanked those who had expressed concern for her husband’s wellbeing. “We as a society talk about giving grace to the issue of mental health as a whole, however we should also give it to the individuals who are living with it in times when they need it the most,” she wrote.West has said he will release a new album, Donda: With Child – named after his late mother – this Friday. More

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      in US Politics

      Is Kanye West seriously running for president? – podcast

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      The rapper has entered the race for the White House invoking his religious beliefs. Prof Josef Sorett looks at whether West’s presidential bid is anything more than a stunt

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      Kanye West launched his bid for the White House on Sunday with a chaotic event in North Carolina. He delivered a rambling address that touched on theology, homelessness and corporate power before engaging one member of the audience in a long discussion about abortion. Prof Josef Sorett of Columbia University tells Rachel Humphreys that while West’s entry to the presidential race could be a promotional stunt, it is underpinned by his strong religious values that run through his music. And it raises interesting questions about the nature of the relationship between religion and politics in the US and where black voters fit into that discussion. More

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      in US Politics

      Kanye West makes chaotic presidential rally debut in South Carolina – video

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      0:33

      In the first rally of his last-minute presidential campaign, Kanye West delivers rambling remarks at a South Carolina convention centre. The venue appeared to lack audience microphones, so the rapper repeatedly asked the crowd to be silent. ‘Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet,’ he tells the crowd, before saying the American abolitionist Harriet Tubman ‘never actually freed the slaves. She just had the slaves work for other white people.’ Members of the audience can be heard saying, ‘Y’all, we’re leaving now’
      God, abortion and better acoustics: Kanye West launches campaign with chaotic rally

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    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      God, abortion and better acoustics: Kanye West launches campaign with chaotic rally

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      Kanye West

      Rapper’s rambling and emotional address – which included an apparent $1m for new mothers – was almost drowned out by a rowdy crowd in Charleston

      Play Video

      0:33

      Kanye West makes chaotic presidential rally debut in South Carolina – video

      Kanye West has launched his campaign tour for the US presidential election in chaotic fashion at an event in Charleston, South Carolina, delivering a rambling address that touched on theology, homelessness, corporate power, and involved a long debate with an audience member about abortion. West also suggested that women should be given $1m when they have a baby.
      The rapper took to the stage at the event wearing a bulletproof vest, and “2020” shaved into his head. Without a mic, he proceeded to address a rowdy audience of a few hundred people, asking for complete silence before asserting that future events “will be in rooms where the acoustics will be incredible because I will be involved with the design”.
      West repeatedly referenced the terms of his deal with Adidas, his faith in God and racism in the US, including an assertion that “[abolitionist] Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people”.
      Tubman is one of the most respected figures of 19th century America. An African American who escaped slavery, she helped enslaved Black men and women travel north to freedom and fought for the Union during the Civil War. She later became a supporter of women’s suffrage.
      But the event hit peak emotional intensity when West began to tell a story about what he believed was divine intervention into his life in a way that caused his wife, Kim Kardashian West, to refuse to terminate a pregnancy.
      “I was having the rapper’s lifestyle,” he said. “I was sitting up in Paris, and I had my leather pants on … and I had my laptop up and I got all of my creative ideas … And the screen went black and white and God said, ‘if you fuck with my vision I’m going to fuck with yours’.
      “And I called my wife and she said, we’re gonna have this baby. I said we’re gonna have this child … So even if my wife were to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world when I didn’t want to. She stood up and she protected that child.”
      West then started crying when speaking about his father, who he said had wanted his mother to have an abortion when she was pregnant with him.
      “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, sobbing into his hand, before shouting: “I almost killed my daughter! I almost killed my daughter!”
      Referencing the media coverage of the event, he then said: “They’re going to run this, they’re going to tell you that I’m crazy. [Well] the world’s crazy!”
      He then called up to the stage a pro-choice activist who had been yelling questions to him in response to his story. He claimed he understood “why someone would make the choice of getting an abortion” and eventually clarified that his position wasn’t that abortion should be banned, but rather that maximum financial assistance should be made available to women who do have children.
      “My stance is not to make abortion illegal at all. It should always be legal. But there should be an option of maximum increase available … Maximum increase would be, everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said. He did not say where this money would come from.
      “It takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “Society has been set up for single moms to not have a village, to not have a child.”
      West’s remarks, which were mostly yelled in order to be heard by the crowd, repeatedly circled back to his Christianity.
      “We are all equal in God’s eyes,” he said. “Sometimes people are controlled by demons, sometimes people are controlled by the environment that we are in but we are all God’s people, there [are] no bad people. There are lost people, but we are all God’s people.”
      Struggling to be heard, West repeatedly told audience members to be quiet at the same time as assuring them that he was “not trying to quiet their voices”. The event ended after West was substantially drowned out by the shouting crowd.
      West announced his intention to run for president on 5 July but he missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it was unclear if he was willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others.
      Last week, he qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline.
      West needed 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.

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      Kanye West

      US elections 2020

      US politics

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