Kanye West, 43, didn’t hold back during an in-depth chat with Joe Rogan on the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, which premiered on Oct. 24. The rapper opened up about his controversial comments around his daughter North West, 7, sharing that he and wife Kim Kardashian, 40, considered aborting their first-born child. “I don’t even like to say out loud what I said in South Carolina,” he said, explaining that he “cried” on-stage in July because he was “gut wrenched.”
The Yeezy designer chose his words carefully to Joe as he continued to explain what was going through is head during that moment. “People saw this clip of me crying and some people didn’t know what I was crying about. But I was crying about that there was a possible chance…that we — Kim and I — didn’t make the family that we have today. That’s my most family friendly way to word that,” he said, clearly still affected by the moment. “The idea of [abortion] just tears me up inside, that I was a part of a culture that promotes this kind of thing,” he added, noting that the felt “too busy” to become a dad at the time.
At the time, Kanye said, “I almost killed my daughter…My girlfriend called me screaming, crying. I’m a rapper. And she said I’m pregnant. She was crying.” Kim and Kanye were in Paris when the KKW Beauty founder discovered she was pregnant. “Even if my wife were to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into this world, when I did not want to,” he also said at the event. Since marrying Kim in 2014, the couple have gone on to welcome kids Saint, 4, Chicago, 2, and Psalm, 1.
On Joe’s podcast, Kanye once again re-affirmed he is Christian and pro-choice — but would not change laws should he be elected to a position in government. “We have to de-couple the conversation of planned parenthood and women’s choice. I’m Christian so I’m pro-life — when I go into office, I’m not changing laws because I realize we live in an imperfect world and society. What I will present is a Plan A to change the connotation of foster care,” he said.
Joe first promoted Kanye’s headline-making appearance on his super popular podcast in an Instagram post on Oct. 22, which can be seen below. It included a smiling photo of him posing with the “Jesus Walks” creator in the studio. “Oh yeah we did! Dropping tomorrow at 12pm Texas time. Beyond my expectations, and I think people are going to have a much better understanding and appreciation of how this man thinks. I really enjoyed talking to him, and we had a lot of fun. @kanyewest,” Joe wrote in the caption.
Kanye also promoted his appearance on the podcast in a tweet on Oct. 17, which can be seen below. In it, he showed a FaceTime screenshot of him smiling and chatting with Joe along with another screenshot of just Joe. “Joe Rogan said it’s cool for me to design the set for our podcast this Friday ⛷,” he captioned the tweet.
Kanye first hinted that he may be appearing on Joe’s podcast when he tweeted his interest earlier this month. “Would love to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast LIVE this week,” the Oct. 13 tweet read. “I have my team trying to get your number Joe I’m in Calabassas – let’s do this my friend.”
The highly-anticipated interview with Joe almost didn’t happen due to a member of the podcast crew testing positive for COVID-19. Joe made the announcement in a video on Oct. 19 and let his fans know he himself was negative but he would have to cancel all podcasts for the week. “All podcasts are cancelled this week Young @jamievernon tested positive for COVID-19,” his caption for the video, posted below, read. “I tested negative, and the rest of the staff tested negative but we’re shutting everything down until we get an all clear from our doctor.”
“I was out of town last week and the shows that aired had all been previously recorded, so I haven’t had any contact with Jamie in the past 9 days except for briefly today, but I’m staying away from everyone and being tested every day until I know I’m in the clear,” continued. “I’ll keep you folks posted as to when the show will resume.”