Kanye West has hit out at 'Saturday Night Live' and promised to "pray" for guest host Issa Rae after his presidential bid was the punchline to a sketch.
The “All Day” rapper - who is running for president under the Birthday Party - was left unimpressed when he was made the punchline of a sketch between the show's guest host and series regular Kenan Thompson.
For the skit, “Your Voice Chicago”, the “Insecure” star played a lawyer representing NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) who was appearing on a morning talk show, anchored by Kenan.
In reference to her 2017 Emmy Awards interview when Issa said she was "rooting for everybody Black", the actress said in character that she'd be "voting for everybody Black" at the upcoming presidential election.
She added: "For too long, our people's voices have not been heard. It's our duty to stand together and take our power back."
Towards the end of the sketch, Kenan's character said: "When we come back, we'll talk about the presidential race between Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Kanye West."
Issa's interrupted and said: "Kanye? F him!"
Kanye didn’t like this joke Issa Rae did about him lastnight on SNL pic.twitter.com/RhUX9fvoQg
— Complex Ambition (@CmplxAmbition) October 18, 2020
On Sunday, Kanye accused the show of using "black people to hold other black people back" and promised to pray for the guest host.
He tweeted: "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."
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
He accompanied his tweet with a screenshot of Issa Rae's Google search results, in Spanish.
The 43-year-old star declared his presidential campaign on 4 July but he has only qualified to be on the ballot in 12 states.
He has instead encouraged voters to write in his name on ballots where it does not already appear.