Kanye West news - latest: Rapper allegedly wanted to name 2018 Ye album ‘Hitler’
The rapper was let back into his Instagram account weeks after being locked out for posting antisemitic messages
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Speculation is mounting over whether Kanye West will be welcomed back onto Twitter after Elon Musk - a self-declared “free speech absolutist” - successfully took over the social media platform.
Earlier in the week, a former executive who used to work with West alleged that he had an open “obsession” with Adolf Hitler and used to reminisce about the “great things” he and the Nazi Party did for Germany, CNN reported.
The executive, who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity, and other sources told the outlet how West, who legally changed his name to Ye, once floated the idea of naming an album after Hitler.
“He would praise Hitler by saying how incredible it was that he was able to accumulate so much power and would talk about all the great things he and the Nazi Party achieved for the German people,” the individual alleged.
Earlier this week, Ye returned to his reinstated Instagram account after being locked out for sharing antisemitic remarks.
The rapper posted a string of messages name-dropping Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel and 50 Cent, among others.
AFC Bournemouth won’t play Kanye West’s ‘Power’ as walkout song going forward
ICYMI: AFC Bournemouth, a football club that competes in the Premier League, will no longer use Kanye West’s 2010 song “Power” as a walkout song for their matches, the BBC reported.
The Cherries have used the song of the rapper’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album for a number of years, but the club reportedly held discussions on Thursday during which they landed on shelving it for future games.
It has not been announced what song the club will use as their walkout song against Tottenham at home on Saturday.
Donda Academy closed with immediate effect
Kanye West’s school Donda Academy has been closed with immediate effect, reports said.
Donda Academy principal Jason Angell emailed parents on Wednesday saying “THERE IS NO SCHOOL TOMORROW,” adding “at the discretion of our Founder, Donda Academy will close for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year effective immediately,” reported The Times.
Mr Angell was quoted as saying in the email that the school plans to “begin afresh in September of 2023.”
Donda closure arrives after prominent educational consultant handed in resignation
News of the temporary closure of Donda Academy, which reportedly includes in its curriculum the teaching of parkour and requires parents and guardians to sign a non-disclosure agreement when they enrol children to the unaccredited institution, arrives just days after an educational consultant for Donda handed in their two-week notice.
Tamar Andrews, who held a prominent position at the school and has been employed there since July, reportedly resigned from her role and had her last day with the institution on 11 October, The Hollywood Reporter said.
In addition to her work with Donda Academy, Dr Andrews was also the director of early childhood education at both Temple Isaiah and American Jewish University, per websites for both institutions.
“Dr. Andrews immediately resigned from Donda Academy following Ye West’s tweet,” Allison Samek, president of Temple Isaiah of Los Angeles, told THR in a statement, noting that the educational consultant said she “she could no longer support the organization.”
Read the full report with The Independent here.
Kanye West’s Donda Academy closes as fallout from antisemitic remarks grows
The closure arrives as commerical partners, such as Adidas and CAA, have announced they’d be parting ways with the rapper triggering him to lose his billionaire status
Kanye West’s Donda Academy closes
Kanye West’s Donda Academy is the latest victim of the fallout from the rapper’s antisemitic remarks as the unaccredited K-8 private Christian school announced to parents that it would be closing.
Johanna Chisholm has more:
Kanye West’s Donda Academy closes as fallout from antisemitic remarks grows
The closure arrives as commerical partners, such as Adidas and CAA, have announced they’d be parting ways with the rapper triggering him to lose his billionaire status
Kanye West returns to Instagram after ban despite nearly a dozen brands dropping him over antisemitism
Kanye West returned to Instagram after a ban from the platform that kicked off a flurry of brands breaking partnerships with the rapper over the antisemitic remarks he posted earlier this month.
Late Wednesday night, West, who legally changed his name to Ye, took Instagram, a move that he’d been blocked from doing for weeks since the social media platform and Twitter locked him out of his accounts for sharing separate antisemitic posts that broke with each company’s terms of service.
In the Instagram story and the accompanying post shared on 26 October, West seemed to address the recent fallout with Adidas and Gap, two of the larger commercial partners who have terminated their business relationship with the rapper in recent weeks.
Read the full report with The Independent below.
Kanye West returns to Instagram after ban despite brands dropping him over remarks
The rapper posted on the social media platform for the first time in weeks since getting locked out of his account
Peloton tells members it will no longer use Kanye West music in workouts, report says
Peloton workouts will no longer use Kanye West music in their workouts, CNN Business reported.
Pelobuddy, a fan website for the stationary bike company, wrote in a post shared on 25 October that instructors are now telling concerned members of the luxury streaming service that going forward, West’s music will not be included in playlists and archival content that features his work will no longer be promoted through the website’s algorithm
“This means our instructors are no longer using his music in any newly produced classes and we are not suggesting any class that includes his music in our proactive recommendations to Members,” a statement from the company to Pelobuddy read, adding that the decision was made “immediately following his remarks”.
According to CNN, there are about 1,800 classes in the Peloton archive that use West’s music. The classes will not be deleted but will no longer be served up as a recommendation for users going forward.
Opinion: Kanye West’s comeuppance is too little, too late
Kanye West is one of those people who does so much awful, erratic stuff, and gets himself embroiled in so much controversy that you automatically assume there’s some grand plan behind it that you’re just too non-famous to comprehend, writes columnist Ryan Coogan.
I’ve seen tweets from people who insist that he’s begun making antisemitic statements as a way to get himself out of his restrictive Adidas contract. I’ve seen comments from people who are convinced that he’s torched his reputation as some kind of 4D chess move to get out of paying alimony to his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. I’ve seen people suggest that his recently public breakdowns have been part of some elaborate performance art that will culminate with the release of the greatest album ever made.
Read the full opinion piece here.
Opinion: Kanye West’s comeuppance is too little, too late
West is a problem, but he’s also an object-lesson in what happens when you let violent and far-right rhetoric become just another part of the furniture
Kanye West antisemitism: Was Adidas really founded by a Nazi?
On Tuesday, sportswear giant Adidas announced it was severing its highly lucrative Yeezy sneaker partnership with Ye, after the rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West made a string of antisemitic remarks in recent weeks.
The growing public outrage over Ye’s comments quickly came to include criticisms of Adidas itself, with commentators arguing the company hadn’t acted swiftly enough to cut ties with the rapper.
“Your silence is a danger to Jews,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement on Monday. “We can’t let Ye’s antisemitism become normalized - we all need to demand Adidasrun away from hate by condemning his racist rhetoric and re-evaluating their partnership.”
Some argued the company was being slow to drop Ye because it had Nazi origins.
The founders of the company that eventually became Adidas were in fact members of the Nazi party, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.
Here, Josh Marcus breaks down the history of the German sportswear company that recently severed business ties with Ye over his antisemitic remarks.
Kanye West antisemitism: Was Adidas really founded by a Nazi?
The brothers who founded Adidas’ precursor were members of the Nazi party
Former executive of Kanye West’s claims the rapper had open ‘obsession’ with Hitler, Nazi Party
A former executive who used to work with Kanye West is alleging that the rapper had an open “obsession” with Adolf Hitler and used to reminisce about the “great work” the Nazi Party did for Germany, CNN reported.
The executive, who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity, discussed how West, who legally changed his name to Ye, once floated the idea of naming an album after the disgraced Nazi leader.
“He would praise Hitler by saying how incredible it was that he was able to accumulate so much power and would talk about all the great things he and the Nazi Party achieved for the German people,” the individual told CNN.
The individual left their position and reached a settlement with Ye over workplace complaints and harassment, which CNN reviewed, while Ye has denied the executive’s allegations.
In addition to admiring the Nazi leader, those in Ye’s inner circle were also allegedly aware of his infatuation with the far-right political regime, with the executive claiming that the 45-year-old also spoke openly about reading “Mein Kampf” and the party’s use of propaganda.
The Independent reached out to Universal Music Group, which owns Ye’s former music label Def Jam, for comment but did not hear back immediately.
Kanye West floated naming ‘Ye’ album ‘Hitler’, CNN reports
In the same CNN exclusive, four separate sources confirmed to the news outlet that Kanye West had originally suggested the title Hitler for his 2018 album, which was actually released under the title Ye.
Those sources asked not to be named for fear of retribution, CNN reported.
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