President Obama Dishes Playful Advice To Kanye West For 2020 Presidential Bid

By R. Siva Kumar - 11 Oct '15 12:10PM

"Do you really think this country's going to elect a black guy from the south side of Chicago with a funny name to be president of the U.S.? That's crazy. Cray," Obama quipped when faced with Kanye West's intention to run for President in 2020.

He was addressing a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco Saturday. President Obama advised Kanye West for the 2020 presidential bid, adding that electing him would be "crazy".

"A little bit later you're going to hear from a guy who I hear has been talking about launching a potential political career," Obama told the crowd of about 1,300 supporters who paid between $250 and $10,000 a person to attend the event headlined by West, reported ABC News.

It was at the MTV Video Music Awards in August that West announced that he wanted to try for the Presidential elections in 2020.

"You may have heard that Kanye is thinking about running [for] speaker of the house. It couldn't get any stranger. In case Kanye is serious about this whole POTUS thing - or as he calls it, 'Peezy' [West's nickname is Yeezy] - I do have advice for him," Obama continued.

"First of all, you have to spend some time dealing with some strange characters who act like they're on a reality TV show. You gotta be cool with that," Obama said, a clear reference to West's wife Kim Kardashian, a staple on the reality TV show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

Secondly, West should try to stay on message, Obama advised. "Saying you have a beautiful dark twisted fantasy"- which is the name of West's 2010 album- "that's what's known as off message in politics," Obama said. "People have lost congressional seats that way."

The third one was a joke, referring to the area from where they both came. "Do you really think this country's going to elect a black guy from the south side of Chicago with a funny name to be president of the U.S.? That's crazy. Cray."

Earlier, the President had called West a "jackass" twice, firstly in 2009 after West came in between Taylor Swift's VMA acceptable speech, and secondly during Obama's 2012 interview with the Atlantic.