Kanye West has unveiled his early ideas for a potential political run, which includes reshaping the White House into something similar to Wakanda.
West — who announced he was running for president on July 4 despite missing several deadlines to do so in major states across the country — told Forbes in a new interview that the secret country of Wakanda from the Marvel film “Black Panther” would be his management model for the White House.
Here’s what he told Forbes.
“A lot of Africans do not like the movie (‘Black Panther’) and representation of themselves in … Wakanda. But I’m gonna use the framework of Wakanda right now because it’s the best explanation of what our design group is going to feel like in the White House. … That is a positive idea: you got Kanye West, one of the most powerful humans — I’m not saying the most because you got a lot of alien level superpowers and it’s only collectively that we can set it free. Let’s get back to Wakanda … like in the movie in Wakanda when the king went to visit that lead scientist to have the shoes wrap around her shoes. Just the amount of innovation that can happen, the amount of innovation in medicine — like big pharma — we are going to work, innovate, together. This is not going to be some Nipsey Hussle being murdered, they’re doing a documentary, we have so many soldiers that die for our freedom, our freedom of information, that there is a cure for AIDS out there, there is going to be a mix of big pharma and holistic.”
This isn’t the first time that Wakanda, or fictional countries, has appeared in real-life politics. According to BBC News, the U.S. Department of Agriculture listed Wakanda as a free-trade partner back in December 2019. The department said it was added by accident during a staff test.
Similarly, in 2017, Poland’s then-foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski told reporters he met with countries “such as Belize or San Escobar” in a bid to join the UN security council. San Escobar is not a real country.