Kanye West was not endorsing Donald Trump when he said he would have voted for him.
Although the 39-year-old rapper did not cast a vote in the recent US presidential election, he caused controversy when he said he would have chosen Trump if he had voted but sources close to Kanye insist it was not an endorsement of the president-elect.
A source told PEOPLE: "[Kanye]’s basically saying everyone has a right to their opinion and it’s important to have a dialogue about it. He was not espousing political views. It was strictly an egalitarian message. He was saying ‘Hey, let’s have a dialogue where everyone’s opinion is respected.’"
Kanye surprised fans at his concert in San Jose this week, when he insisted he would have voted for Trump if had cast a vote on November 8.
He explained: "I told y’all I didn’t vote, right? But if I were to vote, I would have voted for Trump.
"I just said that I would have voted for Donald Trump and then I did a song and y’all sang it at the top of your lungs. That doesn’t mean that you’re a Trump supporter. That just means you OK with a celebrity having their own opinion. Or that someone else is OK to have their own opinion. That might not be your opinion but you can still like that person or still like that person’s music."
And he is still planning to run for US president in 2020.
He said: "I’m concerned about putting our concept of how to do the [president’s] job in a new way and if no one will do it in that way, I will take position in 2020 and do it myself."
Kanye West not endorsing Trump
