Saturday Night Live‘s season opening show was hosted by actor Adam Driver with Kanye West as the musical guest. West provided three musical performances followed by a closing speech referencing Donald Trump.
Wearing puffy Perrier and Fiji water bottle costumes, West with Lil Pump kicked off the trio of performances with a cleaned up version of their new single, “I Love It,” against a screen backdrop featuring comic Adele Givens. West and G.O.O.D. Music signee Teyana Taylor then performed “We Got Love,” a previously unreleased track.
In place of the typical show ending, a MAGA-hat wearing West performed “Ghost Town” with Kid Cudi, Ty Dolla $ign, and 070 Shake. West told the audience he was asked not to wear the hat, which he said made him feel bullied.
On Donald Trump, West stated, “There’s so many time I talk to a white person about this and they say, ‘How can you like Trump? He’s racist. Well uh, if I was concerned about racism, I would have moved out of America along time ago.” He added that it was time for dialog not diatribe and again mentioned plans to run for president in 2020.
While some of West’s thoughts were cut short, members of the audience filmed West while he was speaking and posted the video on social media. Chris Rock posted a series of video on Instastories, which you can check out below.
After the performance, producer Swizz Beatz weighed in with a music clip featuring the line, “fuck the MAGA hat.”
Trump also addressed the performance on Twitter, where he wrote, “Like many, I don’t watch Saturday Night Live (even though I past hosted it) – no longer funny, no talent or charm. It is just a political ad for the Dems. Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told ‘no’), was great. He’s leading the charge!”
Check out all the visuals below.
“I Love It”
“We Got Love”
Kanye West performed GHOST TOWN with Kid Cudi, Ty Dolla Sign and 070 Shake during the end credits of #SNL! pic.twitter.com/CJthj04aeu
— Zen Stefani ♀ (@Dee_Pengs) September 30, 2018
“Ghost Town”
Kanye pontificates
Swizz Beatz responds
