Kanye West Attending, Expected To Perform at Democratic National Committee Fundraiser

Photo by Erez Avissar

Kanye West is slated to attend a Democratic National Committee event in San Francisco on Oct. 10, NBC reports. The fundraiser is billed as "an afternoon concert" that "will be hosted at the Warfield—a 2,300 seat venue—with tickets selling for $250 to $10,000 each". According to NBC: "West is expected to perform songs from his latest album, 'Swish.'"

Earlier this summer while accepting the video vanguard award at the MTV Video Music Awards, West announced that he planned to run for President of the United States in 2020. (Watch that video below.)

Since that time, West gave an interview with Vanity Fair in which he discussed these ambitions to run for president and his admiration of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson. In it, he said he's "definitely" thinking of running for president in 2020.

When talking about his plans, he explicitly praised Carson:

When I run for president, I’d prefer not to run against someone. I would be like “I want to work with you.” As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like this is the most brilliant guy. And I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together.

Today, Carson addressed West's comments on ABC's This Week. Host Martha Raddatz closed out the interview by asking Carson what he thought about West and if the two had been in touch. Carson praised West's "business acumen" and said that he's "certainly willing to give him a chance" as a presidential candidate. Said Carson:

Carson: Well, I did have an opportunity to talk with him. I was extremely impressed with his business acumen. He knows a lot about business. And, you know, I talked to him about the possibility of him and maybe himself and some of the other people in the pop culture doing some music that might be uplifting, that might give young women a sense of their value and young men a sense of responsibility. I think it could be a tremendous thing in our society.

Raddatz: Do you think he'd be a good president some day? 2020?

Carson: Well, I'm certainly willing to give him a chance. We'll see. He'll be able to explain things and see if he resonates with the people.

2015 VMA - Artists.MTV - Music

via Pitchfork