Kanye West was the latest guest on Nick Cannon’s interview series Cannon’s Class and made several controversial statements about religion, women’s rights, politics, and his own family. In the new interview, which has been labelled as Part 1, West also talks about the infamous moment at the 2008 MTV VMAs when he crashed the stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Video.Calling himself a bullhorn for God, West said that it was a higher power, not the alcohol, that encouraged him to interrupt Swift’s acceptance speech after winning her award for “You Belong With Me” at the 2009 VMAs show. “If God ain't want me to run on stage and say Beyoncé had the best video, he wouldn't have sat me in the front row. I would've been sitting in the back. It wouldn't have made it so ridiculous of an idea because I had never heard of this person before, and 'Single Ladies' is, like, one of the greatest videos of all time,” said West, who does not refer to Swift by name during the interview. “And I was only drinking Hennessy because I didn't want to go to the awards show because it was a set-up."West and Cannon jump between topics throughout the 44-minute recording, which took place at West’s home in Wyoming. In July, Kim Kardashian alluded to her husband experiencing a manic episode as a symptom of his currently unmedicated bipolar disorder which has led the rapper to make several controversial comments in his bid for the U.S. presidency. At multiple points during the interview, Cannon (who has been in hot water himself recently) attempted to give West a chance to clarify some of his more damning statements, including his comments that Planned Parenthood and abortion.

ON BEING INSPIRED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

West once again talked about the MTV VMAs when revealing that it was only three days before Swift presented him with the Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 ceremony that he decided to announce his bid for presidency. "Well, it hit me to run for president in 2015. It was about three days before the awards show. And it hit me, and it was funny to me when I said it. I said, 'This is it! I'm gonna say this,’” said West, adding that his party name was inspired by his Pro-Life views. “And then also when I came up with the name of my party, the Birthday Party, it was funny to me. It was just crazy, it was 'Ye-zy. I was like, 'That's it! The Birthday Party!' And you know what made it so, I can only give God the glory. The connection point to the Birthday Party is dealing with life and pro-life, because these are kids that now are gonna get a chance to have birthdays.”

ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD

West’s Pro-Life views are shared repeatedly throughout the interview and include taking on Planned Parenthood, which provides healthcare and education on reproductive sexual health to millions of Americans. West challenged the organization's origins and founder Margaret Sanger, a controversial figure herself, who helped provide accessible birth control for women in the U.S. Sanger was jailed for her efforts in the early 20^th century and worked with many Black community leaders, including NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois, to bring birth control to women in impoverished communities. In 2019, Planned Parenthood began distancing themselves from Sanger because of her illogical belief in the discredited study of eugenics. Cannon argued with West that the organization is much different today and provides many necessary health procedures for free to patients who are unable to afford medical care, adding that two men discussing women’s health may not be received well.Doubling down on his arguments, West alleged that Planned Parenthood is participating in a "Black genocide" that has resulted in over 22 million abortions of Black children. “Planned Parenthood was set up and placed in minority neighborhoods to kill Black people,” said West.Numbers on abortions that have taken place since the Roe V. Wade ruling in 1973 are not exact, but the American Journal of Public Health does report that on average, Black people are more than twice as likely as white people to have abortions, although white people still make up the majority of the percentage of those who seek abortions. West’s comments echo other "Right to Life" leaders who have used the term "genocide" when arguing Pro-Life stances. Both the CDC and Guttmacher Institute have reported that abortions have been on the decline in the U.S. for years thanks to more readily available birth control options.West’s comments on abortion and specifically the high rate of abortion in the Black community in no way take into consideration the circumstances that lead to terminating a pregnancy.[video_embed id='1895385']RELATED: Why salons are offering discreet HIV/AIDS screening for black women [/video_embed]For Black teens and women who do seek out contraceptives, studies have shown that a high rate of racism exists in medical care, especially when it comes to medical professionals treating Black women. A 2018 study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that the “social determinants of health associated with institutionalized and interpersonal racism, including poverty, unemployment, and residential segregation, may make African American women more vulnerable to disparate sexual and reproductive health outcomes.”On a larger scale, that systemic racism bleeds into every aspect of American life, contributing additional social reasons to want to abort a pregnancy. The over-policing of Black men and ensuing high incarceration rate of Black people mean fewer two-parent homes and higher rates of poverty, which makes access to expensive birth control difficult and creates more barriers to raising a child. Racism in the education system, which increases barriers for Black youth looking to finish high school or obtain post-secondary education, also contributes to higher levels of poverty and the inability to financially care for a family.

ON HIS CAMPAIGN RALLY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

In July, West held a campaign rally in South Carolina and broke down in front of the crowd while talking about Kim Kardashian’s struggle with deciding whether to abort the couple’s oldest child, North. West said that he believes sharing his personal experience has helped others decide against abortion. "For anyone who wants to tear me down for crying, you realize that because of South Carolina, there are people who have decided to have a child? Because they connected. And if they were on the fence about it, they never saw anyone in my position take that position and say, 'Look at this. This is a 7-year-old right here. And she might have never made it here,'" said West. “And it was my wife that said, 'This is a soul.' And the scariest thing is, she had the pills, you know, you take these pills, you take them and the next morning the baby's gone, she had the pills in her hand."

ON FATHERHOOD

West talks about Forbes magazine several times throughout the interview, frequently criticizing the magazine for what he says was years of snubbing the designer. This year for the first time, Forbes listed West’s net worth in the billions. Accusing the magazine of undervaluing West’s worth because of his race, the rapper says that his relationship with God and his children is more important than money."At the beginning, middle and the end of the day, I'm a dad. And there's so many fathers that, you know, they have jobs where their whole point in life is to take care of their family. When you're supposed to provide only one service, like, 'We need your new album,’ to be able to just go and provide for your kids but be able to set a tone of morality, a tone of spirituality,” said West. "Like, I had a friend that said, 'You're not enjoying it.' Well, what's the 'it'? Because North don't read Forbes. She just know if daddy is home or not. If I'm away from two weeks, she'll be like 'Dad, I miss you.'"[video_embed id='2026846']BEFORE YOU GO: Tyler Perry is Hollywood’s newest billionaire [/video_embed]