Kanye West has been mired in various controversies over the past few years, whether it's his All Lives Matter fashion show, his repeated threats to Pete Davidson's life or his numerous anti-semitic comments. His antics are often taken as the ravings of an eccentric at best, with the phrase Thank You Kanye, Very Cool! being evoked as a means to both ironically acknowledge and dismiss many of his statements and actions.

What you may not know is that the catchphrase originates from a tweet by former U.S. president Donald Trump, who did in fact reply to Kanye on an occasion before the singer's ban from the platform. Here is a chronology of the ever-popular exclamation.

Where Does The Phrase 'Thank You Kanye, Very Cool!' Come From?

Kanye West began to express his admiration and affection for former U.S. president Donald Trump in 2018, and even made the effort to visit the White House and speak with Trump personally. But several months before this fateful meeting, Kanye tweeted out an equally humorous and bizarre statement about how he and Trump are "brothers" that share "dragon energy."

Trump's reply to the statement was short and to the point; he quote tweeted Kanye to say "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" It is unclear which aspect of Kanye's tweet led Trump to this conclusion, but the invocation of mob imagery, independent free thought, and of course, dragons, no doubt played a part in Trump's characterization of the comment.

How Did 'Thank You Kanye, Very Cool!' Become A Meme?

Memes about the above screenshot often take the form of editing Kanye's tweet to make it appear as though he said something equally or similarly trivial and bizarre, with some users replacing Ye's words with imagery from the video game Minecraft, and others making it appear as though Kanye made some fan art for him and Trump.

Where Can I Use The Phrase 'Thank You Kanye, Very Cool!'?

Internet users often used the phrase to comment on Ye's various antics in the years following Trump's 2018 tweet, but the phrase is also often used by supplanting Kanye's name for the name of any subject. The phrase is also often used ironically and is not meant to sincerely project one's opinion of something as cool.

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For the full history of the catchphrase Thank You Kanye, Very Cool!, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.