I wanted Kim Kardashian to have abortion, says Kanye West at launch

At his campaign launch, Kanye West said abolitionist Harriet Tubman never freed slaves and he wanted his wife Kim to have an abortion.

US rapper Kanye West broke down in tears at his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, saying abolitionist Harriet Tubman never freed slaves.

At the chaotic launch on Sunday (Monday AEST) of his unlikely campaign to oust Donald Trump, West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals, before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina.

He also claimed he had wanted his wife, Kim Kardashian, to get an abortion when she was pregnant with North, their oldest daughter. He then revealed his father also had wanted to abort him.

“My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life. There would’ve been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy,” West said, bursting into tears.

He later shouted: “I almost killed my daughter! I almost killed my daughter!”

Wearing a bulletproof vest, West said Tubman had “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people”, drawing shouts of opposition from the crowd.

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.

On abortion, West said that while he believed it should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice. “Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said as an example.

With “2020” shaved into his head, the entertainer appeared on a livestream of the event. Several hundred people gathered in a venue, where gospel music played before West’s appearance.

The event was reportedly for registered guests only, although a campaign website had no registration or RSVP information.

Speaking without a microphone, West became tearful again while talking about his mother, who died following plastic surgery complications in 2007.

West 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 on 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. Emails to an address associated with the campaign were not returned on Sunday afternoon.

West initially announced his candidacy on July 4. Whether he is actually seeking the nation’s highest office remains a question.

AP, AFP