Charlamagne tha God withstood pressure to endorse President Joe Biden during an appearance on The View, contending that “both candidates are trash.”
The Breakfast Club host, whose real name is Lenard Larry McKelvey, said that while he is “definitely” voting in November, he prefers to focus on issues rather than specific candidates. That answer was met with pushback from the ladies of the ABC talk show, as Sunny Hostin reminded him that he endorsed Biden in 2020.
“Charlamagne, this is not the time, in my opinion, to sit this one out,” Hostin said. He was quick to say he does not plan to sit the election out, to which she pressed him again to voice support for the incumbent.
“Why do you need us to say it if we don’t feel comfortable saying it?” he shot back at the hosts, referencing a previous interview on the show with rapper Killer Mike in which they also pressured him to come out in support of Biden.
“Well, the reality is I think both candidates are trash, but I am going to vote in November, and I’m going to vote my best interest, and I’m going to vote who I think can preserve democracy,” Charlamagne said. “So if I think both are trash and I don’t feel like endorsing one, would you rather me endorse an individual or endorse the fact that ‘Hey, we need to go out here and protect democracy?’”
Charlamagne added that he thinks there is a high level of voter apathy regarding the presidential election, and questioned if either voters or the candidates running are responsible for it. When asked who he believes the winner of the 2024 election will be, the celebrity contended that it is a “toss-up.”
“I think the person who goes out there and probably energizes their base the best at this point, and when you look at somebody like President Biden, it feels like his base is pretty p***ed off at him,” he said.
Hostin then suggested that Charlamagne “help him out” in his reelection bid, to which the radio host asked, “Help him out by doing what?”
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Charlamagne has been critical of both Biden and Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party, calling Biden an “uninspiring candidate” and the former president “a threat to democracy.” He added that Trump seems to have “a lot more energy” compared to Biden, even though he is only a few years younger than the president.
In December 2023, Charlamagne suggested that Biden give the United States “the ultimate Christmas gift” by not seeking reelection, joking that he wants him to beat Trump “the way I want him stepping in to defend me at a bar fight.”