Barack Obama says that 'Kanye West’s music is outstanding', but he’d rather hang out with the reality TV cast of Duck Dynasty

Relationships strained between the two after Obama slammed West for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs in 2009

Relationships strained between the two after Obama slammed West for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs in 2009 (Getty Images)

And in the latest ‘politicians try to be cool’ PR news, Barack Obama has attempted to patch things up with a man he once called a “jackass”: Kanye West.

Relationships started to strain between the President of the United States and the rapper after Obama slammed West for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs in 2009 (the famed “Now Ima let you finish…” diatribe, for those who need reminding).

Then the ultimate diss came in 2012, when Obama admitted he preferred his Watch the Throne co-star Jay-Z's lyrical flow over that of College Dropout Yeezy.

And again, over the summer, when the President bemoaned a recent "shift in culture" among US youth in a conversation with Kindle.

“Kids weren't monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing or where Kanye West was going on vacation and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success," he said of a rose-tinted, pre-Kimye era.

But things appear to be on the up for the pair, after the leader described West’s music as “outstanding” this week.

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The only problem is, he did it in the same breath as saying he’d rather hang out with the cast of Duck Dynasty than with him and Kim Kardashian, in a bizarre, one short of “What’s your favourite sandwich filling?” interview conducted by People magazine recently.

“Kanye's music is outstanding though,” he said, turning down the faux opportunity to “hang” with America’s other premiere couple. “I've got a lot of his stuff on my iPad. If it was a concert, then I might not mind listening to him.”

But the news might come as a bit of a shock to those following the unravelling tale of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson and his sacking from the A&E reality series after making a series of homophobic remarks during an interview with GQ magazine.

Robertson said: “It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus. I mean, come on dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.

“Start with homosexual behaviour and just morph out from there,” he continued. “Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and those men.”

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He went on to paraphrase from Corinthians, claiming that “the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers” would not “inherit the kingdom of God”.

However, he later added: “We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ‘em, give ‘em the good news about Jesus – whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ‘em out later.”

He also made some derogatory claims about growing up around marginalised African American communities in the deep South in the 50s.

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person," he continued. "Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field… They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’. Not a word! Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no-one was singing the blues.”

Which, as an African-American himself, and one who is rather into welfare and entitlement, we doubt Obama agrees with.

A compliment for Kanye West? Certainly. But one delivered from the President with a slight back hand.

Here are a few things the rapper's compared himself to in the recent past: