Rapper Killer Mike Compares Bernie Sanders to Jesus

— -- Rapper and activist Killer Mike became the most recent celebrity to introduce presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders onstage at one of the campaign’s mega-rallies Monday evening, saying the hopeful's campaign "lines up" "next to the words of Jesus Christ."

The rapper, who admits he has a “flare for curse words,” announced his support for Sanders months ago. He told the crowd of 5,000 screaming Sanders fans at the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta, “I have said in many a rap that I don’t trust the church or the government -- Democrat or Republicans -- but after spending five hours with someone who has spent the last fifty years...fighting for your life and mine, I can tell you that I am very proud today to announce the next President of the United States.”

Earlier in the day, the two men visited a soul food diner and shared a meal of fried chicken, macaroni and yams. They talked about their mutual admiration for Noam Chomsky and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. They were interrupted on occasion by surprised fans, but mostly talked among themselves. “It was just a conversation between two angry radical guys, one 74 and white and one 40 and black and finding common ground,” the musician told reporters before the evening rally.

Still facing a steep upward climb in the polls, especially with African Americans, Sanders dedicated a significant amount of his four-day swing though South Carolina and Georgia to reaching out to minority communities. He visited black Baptists churches, spoke at a forum on racial and criminal justice and had a rally at the site of one of the first schools for freed slaves. Monday afternoon in Atlanta, he visited the King Center and met privately with the Martin Luther King Jr’s youngest daughter.

Killer Mike told reporters that he was going to do “as much as [he] humanly can” to advocate for the progressive underdog.

“I don't think any other presidential candidate would be able to take the hopes and dreams of African Americans from 2008, when we hoped and dreamed that Barack Obama would represent our community,” he said, praising Sanders message of income equality, expanded social programs and higher minimum wages.

“I think that this man represents policies that will set those things in action and light a new economic fire in my community and we’d be remiss not to know it.”

“At this point in time we have something far better for our community than what the Clintons are offering,” the musician continued. "Bernie Sanders is the only candidate right now, he is the absolute only candidate where if you line up his political campaign, next to the words of Jesus Christ, it lines up. It lines up."