Charlamagne Tha God is opening up about his decision to cancel a mental health TimesTalk with Kanye West.
The radio host’s event was scheduled for Oct. 17, less than a week after West’s meeting with President Donald Trump.
“Me and Kanye have a relationship, not as close as him and Trump, but we have a relationship,” Charlamagne, 40, explained on The Late Show. “In every interview that he’s done over the past couple years … he’s always talked about his mental health. He’s always talked about being bipolar and being on medication.”
At the White House, West, 41, told Trump, 72, that he was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder.
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“I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and NFL. He looked at my brain,” West stated.
“I wasn’t actually bipolar,” the rapper claimed. “I had sleep deprivation which can cause dementia 10 to 20 years from now when I wouldn’t even remember my son’s name.”
“I was just like, ‘I think he needs to figure that out,’” Charlamagne, who wrote Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me, said. “For what I’m trying to do, which is elevate the conversation of mental health in the black community and try to eradicate the stigma around mental health, I just didn’t think it would be a good conversation. It would be a distraction.”
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Charlamagne thought over his decision before calling off the event. “I took a day because I didn’t want it to be a knee jerk reaction,” he said. “Sometimes we’ll see everybody with this backlash on social media, and we get caught up in the hype, and we’re not really thinking for ourselves. We’re thinking based on how everybody’s reacting.”
When he did get in touch with West’s team, “They were all kind of relieved,” Charlamagne recalled. “They just felt like that was the best thing.”
Then he spoke to West directly. “We just had the conversation. We actually had the conversation when he was in Uganda,” he said. “It was all good. He took it well. He took it well. He definitely took it well.”
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Ahead of West’s meeting with Trump, Charlamagne said on MSNBC, “Kanye West does not represent all black people.”
“I’m black and I don’t support Donald Trump in any way, shape or form,” he added.
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