Kanye West delivered a speech about President Trump and other political topics to the "Saturday Night Live" audience in the room following one of his performances early Sunday evening.

After he performed "Ghost Town" at the end of the 44th season premiere for "SNL," West, who wore a red "Make America Great Again" hat, said he was bullied backstage due to his choice of headwear.

"They bullied me backstage. They said, 'don't go out there with that hat on. They bullied me backstage. They bullied me! And then they say I'm in a sunken place," he said. "You want to see the sunken place? Okay, I'ma listen to ya'll now — or I'ma put my Superman cape on, cuz this means you can't tell me what to do. Follow your heart and stop following your mind. That's how we're controlled. That's how we're programmed. If you want the world to move forward, try love."

Turning to the people gathered behind him on stage, West said, "Thank ya'll for giving me this platform. I know some of ya'll don't agree, but ya'll be going at that man ... and I don't think it's actually that helpful. I think the universe has balance. Ninety percent of news are liberal."

He continued: "90 percent of TV, L.A., New York, writers, rappers, musicians. So it's easy to make it seem like it's so one-sided."

[Related: Trump sings Kanye West's praises: 'SNL' just a 'political ad for the Dems']



KANYE SNL TALK THAT GOT CUT OFF FREEDOM OF SPEECH SHOULD HAVE EXTENDED pic.twitter.com/IpULoEJxsN — MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) September 30, 2018



West's comments came at the end of the show, which has become a mainstay of jokes critical of Trump and his administration. Earlier in the evening, the episode began with a cold open that focused on last week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The skit largely mocked Kavanaugh and the GOP senators who were present at the hearing.

Even after NBC cut the feed, West continued to address the audience in the studio in New York City.

Comedian Chris Rock captured some of the speech, which he shared on Instagram.



From Chris Rock’s IG story, looks like Kanye gave a speech after NBC cut the SNL feed pic.twitter.com/mYpSxqbw9Z — Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) September 30, 2018



“I wanna cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you feel in side right now," he said, singing again while standing in front of fellow rapper Kid Cudi, "SNL" cast members, and others on the stage.

He then spoke about Democrats and welfare.

“The blacks want always Democrats ...," he said, adding later: "You know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and promote welfare. Does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan.”

He also dismissed talk of Trump being racist.

“There’s so many times I talk to, like, a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, uh, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago," he said.

Other parts of the Instagram story included members of the audience booing West, and near the end showed him talking about the need for a "dialogue, and not a diatribe" in order to make change.

An NBC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that "SNL" was glad to have West back as a musical guest for the premiere.

West has been a vocal defender of Trump, telling all his haters earlier this year that they can’t make him not love the man even if he doesn’t agree with everything Trump does.

His wife, Kim Kardashian West, has worked with Trump and the White House to address the topic of prison reform.

The president granted clemency to 63-year-old Alice Johnson in June after Kardashian met with Trump in the Oval Office. Earlier this month, she visited the White House to push for the release of Chris Young, a 30-year-old serving a life sentence for a drug conspiracy.