--- ---  # Kanye West: 'I Have Decided in 2020 to Run for President'  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Aug 31, 2015 3:23 AM UTC  Kanye West accepts the Video Vanguard Award onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Aug. 30, 2015. Kanye West accepts the Video Vanguard Award onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Aug. 30, 2015.Kevin Winter—MTV1415/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Aug 31, 2015 3:23 AM UTC If you thought Taylor Swift presenting Kanye West with the Video Vanguard Award would be the strangest part of the night [given their history](http://time.com/4016437/vmas-2015-kanye-west-taylor-swift-video-vanguard-award/), you were wrong: West stole the show at a ceremony that already had plenty of show-stealing moments by delivering a long, seemingly improvised speech in which he ended by joking—we _think?_—that he would be running for president in 2020. Here’s a rough transcript of his speech, which may have some errors: --- > “” --- VMAs 2015 Kanye West Says Running for President: Full Speech ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4016623/vmas-2015-kanye-west-speech-president-2020/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4016623/vmas-2015-kanye-west-speech-president-2020/"},"headline":"Kanye West: 'I Have Decided in 2020 to Run for President'","datePublished":"2015-08-31T03:23:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:33:53.092Z","description":"The rapper ended his Video Vanguard Award acceptance speech by making an unexpected announcement to the audience","url":"https://time.com/4016623/vmas-2015-kanye-west-speech-president-2020/","keywords":["Music","Kanye West","MTV","VMAs 2015"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt062aa91acd6ee0c6/6988619e0b72e35e546e59c7/kanye-west2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt062aa91acd6ee0c6/6988619e0b72e35e546e59c7/kanye-west2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2015 MTV Video Music Awards - Fixed Show","caption":"2015 MTV Video Music Awards - Fixed Show","creditText":"Kevin Winter—MTV1415/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4016623/vmas-2015-kanye-west-speech-president-2020/","name":"Kanye West: 'I Have Decided in 2020 to Run for President'"}}]}] ```