Kanye West Hugs Donald Trump During White House Visit, Stars Criticize Rapper

Kanye West hugged President Donald Trump and told the POTUS he loved him at a public meeting in the Oval Office Thursday. The meeting between the rapper and the president at the White House took place to discuss manufacturing, urban revitalization, curbing violent crime in Chicago and criminal-justice reform.

Kanye, wearing the "Make America Great Again" hat, delivered a 10-minute monologue about several issues. He also walked across the table to Trump saying "I love this guy right here. Let me give this guy a hug." Trump said Thursday that the rapper “could very well be” a future presidential candidate, to which West responded: “Only after, 2024.”

“Let’s stop worrying about the future all we have is today," West said. "Trump is on his hero’s journey right now. He might not have thought he’d have a crazy m----------- like (me).”

Following the visit, which many think was unnecessary as the White House and Trump should have focused on Hurricane Michael, celebrities took to Twitter to voice their distaste.

"Kanye West says he thinks of Trump as a father. Guess who doesn’t think of Kanye as a son?" Chelsea Handler tweeted.

Actor Ike Barinholtz criticized the timing of the lunch, writing: "It’s good to know that while Florida is being pummeled by a storm and the dow is s--tting the bed and a US 'ally' beheaded a journalist that our president is having the world’s s----dest lunch with Kid Rock and Kanye West."

"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" star, Chelsea Peretti, replied to a photo of West, 41, hugging Trump, calling it "hell on earth."

In a lengthy post on Instagram, T.I. said he's been "extremely patient and made it a point to not jump to any premature conclusions about" West and "his antics," but could not stop himself from saying that, "This is the most repulsive, disgraceful, embarrassing act of desperation & auctioning off of one's soul to gain power I've ever seen."

According to T.I., West invited him to accompany him to the White House, but he declined the offer.

"I refuse to associate myself with something so vile, weak, & inconsiderate to the effect this has on the greater good of ALL OUR PEOPLE!!!!" T.I. wrote. "At one time it was a pleasure to work alongside you... now, I'm ashamed to have ever been associated with you."

During the White House meeting, West praised Trump's efforts in North Korea saying, "On day one you solved one of [Obama's] biggest troubles. We solved one of the biggest problems." He also said Hollywood does not like his support of the president.

"They tried to scare me to not wear this hat," West said, referring to his MAGA hat he wore to the meeting and on a recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live."

"When I put this hat on, it made me feel like Superman - my favorite superhero. You made a Superman cape for me," he said.

Meanwhile, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha said Thursday that the only reason West is going to the White House is to get publicity.

"Kanye is about Kanye, and this is a good way for Kanye to get good press," Rocha, the founder and president of Solidarity Strategy, told Hill.TV's Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on "Rising."

"If he's working on criminal justice reform, I'm going to support him, and I'm going to lift up his voice because it's a huge thing with me," he continued. "But I still think at the end of the day he's just another entertainer who wants to see a headline, and him going to the White House, and being there is a good thing for his Twitter followers."

In an interview on "Fox and Friends" on Thursday, Trump spoke highly about the rapper calling him "a friend of mine." On Tuesday, Trump called West "a terrific guy" and someone who "loves what we're doing for African-American jobs."

This is not the first time Kanye has publicly met with the president, joining him at Trump Tower shortly after the 2016 election.