Rapper Kanye West ended a performance on Saturday Night Live late last night with a politically-laced soliloquy in front of the show’s live audience, expressing his support for President Donald Trump while criticizing Democratic policies.

West, who famously criticized President George W. Bush’s handling of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina crisis, claiming Bush “doesn’t care about black people”, expressed support for President Trump following his election in 2016.

The rapper met with Trump in December 2016 a month after the election, and earlier this year released a series of social media posts praising the president for his “dragon energy”, calling Trump his “brother”.

On Saturday, West appeared on SNL, performing two songs as the show’s musical guest.

At the show’s conclusion, West appeared onstage wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hate – a trademark of the 2016 Trump campaign – and proceeded to address the crowd in what was described by some audience members as a pro-Trump “rant”.

The 41-year-old rapper claimed cast members tried to prevent him from making a statement with the hat on.

“You see they’re laughing at me. You heard them scream at me. They bullied me backstage. They said ‘Don't go out there with that hat on’. They bullied me backstage.”

During his comments on stage, West hit the media over its “liberal” bias, and criticized Democrats over welfare policy.

“Ninety percent of the news is liberal. Ninety percent of TV, LA, NY, writers, rappers, musicians. So it's easy to make it seem like it's so, so, so, so one sided. I feel kind of free.”

Democrats, West claimed, have pushed policies increasing dependence on government aid, claiming the party’s agenda takes “fathers out the home and promotes welfare.”

West also defended the president from accusations of racism.

“So many times I talk to a white person and they say, ‘How could you like Trump, he’s racist?’ Well, if I was concerned about racism I would have moved out of America a long time ago.”