The Philly-born model and TV personality Amber Rose was set to speak at this week’s Republican National Convention, and when she did, she took the stage with command, explaining her point of view on why she now supports the former President and how he will “Make America Great Again” again if he returns as Commander-in-Chief.
Here is everything we know about Rose and the details of what she had to say during the Republican National Convention.
Who is Amber Rose?
Amber Rose is a 40-year-old biracial American model, rapper, and television personality. She first gained attention after starring in the music video for Young Jeezy’s 2008 single “Put On,” which featured Kanye West. Her romantic relationship with West led her to model for the Louis Vuitton brand, after which she signed a modeling contract with Ford Models.
She earned wider recognition as a video vixen in more hip-hop videos. After splitting from West in 2010, she dated and married rapper Wiz Khalifa in 2013, but filed for divorce in 2014. She has two sons: her eldest, Sebastian Taylor Thomaz, with Khalifa, and her youngest, Slash Electric Alexander Edwards, with another rapper, Alexander Edwards.
In 2015, she founded the Los Angeles chapter of the SlutWalk protest march, an annual feminist demonstration originally founded in Toronto.
What were her points at the convention?
In her speech, Rose acknowledged that she originally believed Trump was a racist before conducting her own research on the candidate in an effort to prove her Irish/Italian father, a military veteran and Trump supporter, wrong. However, in her search, she instead felt she “had never felt more free and more love for my country than [she does] now” because she believes “Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, White, gay, or straight.”
“I watched all the rallies, and I started meeting so many of you, his red- hat-wearing supporters… It’s all love,” Rose said.
Then she also mentioned how the state of the world was different when Trump was President from 2017 to 2021, and that if Americans want “to put money back in [their] pockets and good food back on [their] kids’ plates,” they should cast “a vote for Donald Trump.”
“If you want the prices to go down, if you want inflation to go down, if you want gas prices to go down, if you want to feel protected in your neighborhood with your children, if you’re American and you’re here and you’re born here, Donald Trump is for you[…] He’s for the American people period. He’s for your children. He’s for women. He’s for all of us.”
“I’m a mother. My whole world revolves around providing for my children, keeping them safe and giving them an opportunity for a better life. … I’m here tonight to tell you, no matter your political background, that the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president,” Rose said.
“For me, Donald Trump is the epitome of an alpha male. He’s there to protect, provide, make sure the citizens of the U.S. are in a good economy, protecting us. I feel protected by Donald Trump. … I feel safer with him in office,” Rose told Lara Trump, the Republican National Committee co-chair and candidate’s daughter-in-law, in a podcast interview.
Amber Rose: Donald Trump and his supporters don't care if you're black, white, gay or straight. It's all love.#RNCConvention pic.twitter.com/T2R4SyyJVO
— jordan (@JordanUhl) July 16, 2024
Why did she speak at the RNC?
It seems as though Donald Trump was looking to court younger, more diverse voters by featuring an unexpected speaker like Rose, who had previously criticized Trump early in his presidency.
When responding to comments Trump made to The Cut magazine in 2016 that Hillary Clinton was only being supported by “non-hot” celebrities, Rose once said, “He’s just such an idiot. He’s so weird. I really hope he’s not president.”
But to the man she once insulted, she now has been voicing support, initially announcing it in May via Instagram and X with a photo posing with him and First Lady Melania Trump. Since then, she has shared a host of photos and videos on social media expressing her support for Trump and his bid for a nonconsecutive second term as president, including one shared after the Saturday shooting at a Trump campaign rally in her home state of Pennsylvania.