Kanye West’s campaign to become U.S. president has reportedly ended before it even really started.
New York magazine’s Ben Jacobs reported Tuesday that West scrapped his plan to run only days after his July 4th announcement that he was running to replace Donald Trump.
Steve Kramer, whose company was hired to get the rap star on ballots in Florida and South Carolina, is quoted as confirming on July 9: “He’s out.”
Neither West or his reps have commented on the report.
Many people assumed West’s declaration was a publicity stunt for his new album or a move to steal votes from presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden, but TMZ reported last week that West was “in the midst” of “a serious bout with his bipolar disorder” and his loved ones “are worried, but they believe things will stabilize.”
Last year, West opened up about his mental health issues during an interview on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. “If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have a potential to ramp up and it can take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital," West explained. “And you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it."
Last week, West told Forbes he was running for the newly-created Birthday Party, with Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball as his running mate, and said he believes “God appoints the president.”
West did not register with the Federal Election Commission and deadlines to get on ballots as an independent have already passed in at least 10 states, including key electoral college ones like Texas, New York and West’s native Illinois.
Fellow rapper 50 Cent said West was only running "to create a diversion and distract people" but Chance The Rapper seemed to endorse West in a series of controversial tweets. (He later tweeted: “I understand the improbability of Ye winning the 46th Presidential seat.")