Kanye West has compared the response to his support of Donald Trump to racial profiling.
The rapper, fashion designer and gospel singer is one of the few high-profile Hollywood figures to publicly back the president and once referred to Mr Trump as his “brother”.
West has now dismissed his critics and said people only assumed he would be a Democrat because of his skin colour.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal Magazine, he said: “I’m a black guy with a red hat, can you imagine?
“It reminded me of how I felt as a black guy before I was famous, when I would walk in a restaurant and people would look at you like you were going to steal something.
“‘This is your place, Ye, don’t talk about apparel. This is your place, Ye, you’re black, so you’re a Democrat’.”
West, one of the most acclaimed and best-selling artists of the last two decades, is no stranger to delivering grand pronouncements on everything from celebrity, wealth and capitalism.
In his WSJ interview, he returned to the theme of “classism” and how being rich changed people’s perspectives.
“Classism is like living on a bookshelf,” he said. “The more money you have, the higher you go. And you get to the top and look over and what do you see? Fear.”
West, 42, confirmed he did not vote in the 2016 presidential election but would have backed Mr Trump if he had.
He also discussed the future of his Yeezy fashion brand, comparing it to multi-national corporations Apple and McDonald’s.
“I believe that Yeezy is the McDonald’s and the Apple of apparel,” West said.
“In order to make the Apple of apparel the next Gap, it has to be a new invention. To invent something that’s so good that you don’t even get credit for it because it’s the norm.”