Kanye West Explains Why He Brings 'Jesus' Onstage During Concerts

Kanye West shocked fans when he brought out a Jesus look-alike at the opening stop on his Yeezus Tour in Seattle on Saturday.

The mock Jesus appeared onstage barefoot wearing a white robe before West performed his hit 'Jesus Walks.'

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'White Jesus, is that you? ... Oh, shit!' he joked, according to MTV News. West later bowed to the mock Jesus as he stood on a mountaintop.

In a recent interview with Bay Area radio station Wild 94.9, he explained why he brings the Son of God onstage.

'I had a friend of mine that's a pastor there as we started discussing how we wanted to deliver it,' West said. 'My girl even asked afterwards, 'Is that weird if Jesus comes onstage?' They're like, 'No. We do plays all the time. People play Jesus. You know what's awesome about Christianity? We're allowed to portray God. We're allowed to draw an image of him. We're allowed to make movies about him. Other religions, you're not allowed to do that. That's what's really awesome about Christianity. That's one of the really awesome things.'

He also says he wanted to send a message to his fans.

'One of the things I wanted to get across with that message,' he says, 'is that you can have a relationship with Jesus, that you can talk to Jesus. ... In the same way as someone can have 'Jesus is my homeboy,' that is the way I would express it. In the way I create it is that you can have a relationship with Jesus. You can talk to him.'

West added that his concerts are a form of artistic expression a la Michelangelo's works.

'It's a painting. It's a sculpture. It's a moving opera. It's a play,' he said.

West's remarks come a day after he proposed to Kim Kardashian, with whom he has a baby daughter named North. He asked for her hand in marriage at San Francisco's AT&T Park in front of friends and family and a 50-piece orchestra.