Kanye West Responds to Bush: "I Got Accused of Being a Racist, Too!"

Former president said on Today that West calling him a racist "was an all-time low"; West says he now feels more connected to Bush on "a humanitarian level"

By Natalie Finn Nov 04, 2010 1:43 AMTags

Knowing what it feels like to have his approval ratings plummet, Kanye West says that he now understands what George W. Bush was going through when he was accused of botching the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Please, please tell us more, Kanye...

"I definitely can understand the way he feels, to be accused of being a racist in any way, because the same thing happened to me, where I got accused of being a racist," West told Houston station KBXX-FM today when asked about Bush's interview in which he called West's "Bush doesn't care about black people" comment one of the low points of his presidency.

"It was a disgusting moment, pure and simple," Bush told Matt Lauer.

But West totally understands Bush's pain now, because just as Obama's predecessor was raked across the political coals for Katrina, West was criticized for...interrupting Taylor Swift.

Sure, we see the parallels.

"For both situations, it was basically a lack of compassion that America felt in that situation," West said, referring to the Swift episode.

"With him, it was a lack of compassion of him not rushing, him not taking the time to rush down to New Orleans. For me, it was a lack of compassion of cutting someone off in their moment. But nonetheless, I think we're all quick to pull a race card in America. And now I'm more open, and the poetic justice that I feel, to have went through the same thing that he went [through]—and now I really more connect with him on just a humanitarian level."

West's comment in 2005 apparently really scarred the president, however, prompting him to cite it in his memoir, Decision Points: "Five years later I can barely write those words without feeling disgust."

But now, with West trying to bond with the president over their similarities, perhaps Bush should show some of that famed compassion of his and accept the olive branch.