In the last-minute scramble for press and among the 2020 Democratic candidates in the lead up to the Iowa caucus on Monday, did anybody have ‘Ken Bone endorses Andrew Yang’ on their bingo card?
Bone — the besweatered and formerly ‘undecided’ voter who went viral during the 2016 election after he asked a question during a televised debate town hall — announced in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday that he considered himself part of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur’s “#YangGang” movement.
“You guys know I don’t endorse candidates,” Bone wrote. “Except for when I do. I’m fully on board, #YangGang all the way! Iowa, we need you. Tomorrow at 6:30 we can make this a caucus to remember!”
While Yang has struggled to gain traction in the polls — and among women — and failed to meet the 5 percent popularity threshold required to qualify for the January Democratic debate, he has still received the support of several prominent celebrities in recent months. As the primary process gets underway in earnest, we’ve rounded up some of Yang’s most prominent endorsements to date.
Donald Glover
In December 2019, the actor and rapper announced via Instagram that he would be hosting a fundraiser for Yang at a pop-up merch shop in Los Angeles. The event reportedly featured hoodies and baseball caps signed by the candidate, and attracted a line of supporters that spanned several city blocks.
During the event, Yang told reporters that he has “been a fan of Donald’s for a very long time.” Glover — who raps as stage persona Childish Gambino — isn’t the first member of the music community to lend his support to Yang, as Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo is also reportedly a fan. Although Cuomo has never endorsed the candidate outright, he did previously donated money to his campaign, and Weezer performed at a political rally for Yang back in November 2019.Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images.
Elon Musk
The billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX has also previously thrown his support behind Yang, and it could be in no small part due to the candidate’s embrace of a universal basic income, or UBI — a policy that Musk has also said that he supports.
“There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation,” Musk told CNBC back in 2016. “Yeah, I am not sure what else one would do. I think that is what would happen.”Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage — the legend himself — is also reportedly a member of the #YangGang. According to Jezebel, the actor has previously donated $1,000 to Yang’s campaign for the presidency.
Yang himself seems to be aware of and pleased by the endorsement, having previously tweeted, “I think Nicolas Cage may have donated to my campaign. It is done.”Photo: Luca Teuchmann/WireImage.
Teri Hatcher
Former Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher has also come out in support of Yang.
“He’s a smart guy with a kind heart, talking real statistics on complicated issues in a way no one else does or can,” Hatcher wrote in an earnest Instagram post on January 4. “It is time to Make America Think Harder. He wants to solve the problems that got us here in a new forward-thinking way. I think he can beat Trump and I believe he will be better for America,” she added.Photo: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images.
Dave Chapelle
The outspoken comedian performed standup on January 29 and 30 in the key battleground state of South Carolina for Yang. Although he has declined to cite specifics on why he’s chosen to endorse Yang, he has professed himself to be unabashedly “Yang Gang.”
Yang, for his part, has called Chapelle his favorite comedian, and has claimed it was “thrilling” to receive his endorsement. “He’s a parent, like me,” Yang told MSNBC of Chapelle. “He’s concerned about the state of the country and the future. He has the same hopes I do, that we can come together and start to improve our lives and the government has to be the leader.”Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images.
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