Kanye West wasn’t laughing after he watched Issa Rae poke fun at him in a Saturday Night Live sketch during the Oct. 17 episode that the actress hosted.
In a skit titled “Your Voice Chicago,” Rae played a political commentator named Jamele Demmings appearing on a talk show, with the host played by Kenan Thompson. Talking about the local election, Rae’s Jamele said she’d vote for every Black candidate on the ballot. As Thompson’s J. Louis Tibbs asked her about each increasingly inexperienced Black candidate, Jamele found ways to twist and to turn their negatives into positives that made them worthy for a political office.
As Tibbs kicked to a commercial break, he teased, “When we come back, we’ll talk about the presidential race between Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kanye West.” But the last was one candidate that even Rae’s Jamele couldn’t get behind. “Kanye?! Eff him!” she declared as the sketch ended.
West shared his disappointment over the dig in a tweet Sunday morning. “Ive always said SNL uses black people to hold other black people back,” he tweeted. “My heart goes out to Issa Rae I’m praying for her and her family I know that the twenty years of service that I’ve paid in the entertainment field has furthered our ability to be more successful.”
Ive always said SNL uses black people to hold other black people back My heart goes out to Issa Rae I’m praying for her and her family I know that the twenty years of service that I’ve paid in the entertainment field has furthered our ability to be more successful pic.twitter.com/kExwUVVsqv
— ye (@kanyewest) October 18, 2020
Billboard has reached out to Saturday Night Live and Rae for comment.
West, who won four trophies in the Gospel and Christian categories at the Billboard Music Awards Oct. 14, has appeared on several ballots despite jumping into the presidential race very late in the game, including as a vice presidential candidate in California. He announced his intent to run on July 4, and launched his first campaign video on Oct. 12.
Watch the “Your Voice Chicago” sketch below.