Andrew Yang Joins Rivers Cuomo at Iowa Yangapalooza! Rally During Performance of “Say It Ain’t So”

Earlier today Democratic Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang hosted his Yangapalooza, a campaign rally to raise awareness for the upcoming presidential race in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Joining Yang at the event was Weezer founder and songwriter, Rivers Cuomo. Taking to the outdoor stage at Des Moines’ Brenton Skating Plaza to perform a handful of classic Weezer hits as well as performing a few covers from their LP, The Teal Album. Cuomo played acoustic guitar alongside Weezer bassist Scott Shriner and a drummer, opening with “Buddy Holly” before launching into stripped-down versions of “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Island in the Sun,” “Beverly Hills,” and more. The cover songs they performed include TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Toto’s “Africa,” and A-ha’s “Take on Me.”

During Cuomo’s performance of “Say It Ain’t So” presidential hopeful Andrew Yang appeared on stage where he sang, “You don’t look like the f*cking internet to me!” He then proceeded to make his way to the front of the stage where he continued to sing and dance along with Cuomo and the others. At the end of the song Yang showed off his excitement by shouting to the crowd, “Let’s give it up for Rivers Cuomo and Weezer!” At some point in the evening Rivers Cuomo said, “Yang gang in the house,” but did not otherwise explicitly endorse Yang and his campaign.

Andrew Yang is the founder of Venture for America, a nonprofit that focuses on creating jobs within struggling American cities.  He is also a member of the Democratic party and a 2020 presidential candidate. Launching his campaign in 2017, Yang started to gain serious momentum in early 2019 when he was featured on several popular podcasts. Andrew Yang ‘s internet presence has dubbed him “The internets favorite candidate,” via New York Times. His signature policy is a universal basic income in which citizens would be granted a fixed amount of money every month, an attempt to curb the rapid development of automation in the workplace. Yang has over 160 policy proposals on his campaign website.

Photo credit: Brett Padelford