--- title: Kanye West: Donald Trump Visit About 'Multicultural Issues' description: Kanye West said he met with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday with the goal of discussing "multicultural issues" canonical: https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-13T21:08:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:17:31.142Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kanye West Explains Why He Met With Donald Trump og:description: And hints at a potential presidential bid in 2024 og:url: https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44de8210a893ae70/6988b2d5656a3ff0adbce26d/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At Trump Tower og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kanye West Explains Why He Met With Donald Trump twitter:description: And hints at a potential presidential bid in 2024 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44de8210a893ae70/6988b2d5656a3ff0adbce26d/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kanye West Explains Why He Met With Donald Trump  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 13, 2016 9:08 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump and Kanye West stand together in the lobby at Trump Tower, on Dec. 13, 2016 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and Kanye West stand together in the lobby at Trump Tower, on Dec. 13, 2016 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 13, 2016 9:08 PM UTC Kanye West said he [met with President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4599064/kanye-west-donald-trump-tower/) on Tuesday with the goal of discussing “multicultural issues.” “I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues,” West said in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/808767333065981956) Tuesday afternoon, explaining his unexpected visit to Trump Tower. “These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago.” “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change,” he added. West and Trump were both relatively mum about their meeting Tuesday morning, dodging questions from reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. “I just wanted to take a picture right now,” West said when asked if he was considering performing at Trump’s inauguration or running for president in 2020\. West said last year that he was considering a [2020 presidential bid](http://time.com/4048824/kanye-west-running-for-president/). But he ended his series of tweets on Tuesday with the hashtag #2024—possibly referencing a newfound timeline for his presidential aspirations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/"},"headline":"Kanye West Explains Why He Met With Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-12-13T21:08:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:17:31.142Z","description":"\"I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change\"","url":"https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","celebrities","Kanye West","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44de8210a893ae70/6988b2d5656a3ff0adbce26d/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44de8210a893ae70/6988b2d5656a3ff0adbce26d/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At Trump Tower","caption":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At Trump Tower","creditText":"Drew Angerer/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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4599983/kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting/","name":"Kanye West Explains Why He Met With Donald Trump"}}]}] ```