A Timeline of Kanye Controversy

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Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

FILE – Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 9, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. West, who goes by Ye, is ending the contract between his company Yeezy and the struggling clothing retailer, confirmed his lawyer in an emailed statement to The Associated Press Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Cooper Bass, Content Editor

Ye West, formerly known as Kanye, has had a history of being publicly controversial but it has recently escalated to new levels of outlandish actions and comments. West is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer and political figure.

Oct. 3, 2022:
West and controversial political activist Cadence Owens wear “White Lives Matter” shirts to Paris Fashion Week and receive backlash from Vogue editor, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson along with other celebrities. The phrase has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist phrase that was born to be a countermovement to the civil rights push, “Black Lives Matter.”

Oct. 4, 2022:
At West’s fashion show during Paris fashion week, he criticized Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) CEO, Bernard Arnault. He went to Instagram to baselessly claim that Arnault, “KILLED MY BEST FRIEND” which was speculated to be designer, Virgil Abloh, who passed away last year due to cancer. He continued to claim that Arnault’s racism and elitism contributed to the decline of Virgil’s health. This caused criticism towards West from streetwear brand Supreme’s creative director Tremaine Emory for using Abloh’s death for attention.

Oct. 6, 2022:
Adidas put its collaboration with West under review. In a now-deleted Instagram post, West claimed that Adidas stole his designs.
Later that same day, West participated in an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson and wore an ultrasound photo around his neck to express his pro-life views. In the interview, West baselessly claimed, “There’s more black babies being aborted than born in New York City at this point. Fifty percent of Black death in America is abortion.” He also said that being overweight is, “the genocide of the Black race” while he brought up three-time Grammy-winning artist, Lizzo. Supermodels Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber criticized West’s remarks regarding Karefa-Johnson. West responded to the models by saying, “They want corny ass Gigi Hadid and nose job Hailey Baldloose [Bieber] to rally behind an obvious Corey Gamble level non-fashion industry plant.”
He also claimed that former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is Jewish, negotiated Middle East peace deals to make money.

Oct. 7, 2022:
West posted a text conversation with Sean “Diddy” Combs, where he said he would use Combs “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me”. West was restricted on Instagram after that post for violation of the community guidelines.

Oct. 9, 2022:
On the social media platform Twitter, West tweeted, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti-Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda” His account was locked by Twitter after the post.

Oct. 10, 2022:
West posted a documentary to Youtube, which contains footage of him putting on a porn movie for Adidas executives.

Oct. 11, 2022:
An unaired Fox news interview with Carlson and West revealed more antisemitic comments. He explained that he would rather have his kids learn about Hanukkah instead of Kwanzaa because it would come with some “financial engineering”. He also pushed the idea that the reproductive health organization, Planned Parenthood, was engineered by the KKK to control the “Jew population”.

Oct. 12, 2022:
Talk show, “The Shop” releases a statement saying an interview they conducted with West will not be aired because he tried using their platform to, “reiterate more hate speech” and he was enforcing, “extremely dangerous stereotypes”.

Oct. 15, 2022:
Podcast “Drink Champs” released an episode featuring West where he made false claims that George Floyd’s death was due to fentanyl, and not because former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Two autopsies confirmed that Floyd died of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by the officer’s actions. Floyd’s family will later plan to file a lawsuit against West for $250 million.

Oct. 17, 2022:
Parler, a right-wing social media platform, announced that West would be buying it. West said, “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves.”
Later that day in an interview with Chris Cuomo, West said that his prior “death con 3” tweet was referring to when Black musicians would sign to Jewish record labels and those record labels would take ownership. He called it “modern-day slavery;” He continued on by saying that because Jewish people make up a majority of music executives that “If you say anything out of the line with the agenda, then your career could be over.” He clarified that the specific “death con 3” statement wasn’t wishing any harm “on my fellow Jewish people.” and kept insisting to Cuomo that “This is not hate speech,”

Oct. 19, 2022:
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Kanye apologized for the death con comment but does not regret it. He said he was aware that what he was saying was racist but he was “fighting fire with fire” and absolutely does not regret his offensive remarks. West also tells Piers Morgan that President Joe Biden is “f**king r**arded” for not taking Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk’s, advice. He followed that up by saying he is allowed to say that because he has “mental health issues.”
The news site, Women’s Wear Daily, released an exclusive interview with one of West’s business partner brands, Balenciaga. The brand has severed all ties with West and does not have ”any plans for future projects related to this artist.”

Oct 21, 2022:
TMZ reported that West had reportedly hired Camille Vasquez, who was Johnny Depp’s lawyer in his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard.
Vogue spokesperson told Page Six that the publication and its editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, have no plans to continue working with West.

Oct . 24, 2022:
Adidas announced it had ended its longstanding partnership with West. Much of West’s net worth is from his former contract with Adidas but now since it has been revoked, “Forbes” estimates that he will lose his billionaire status.

Oct. 25, 2022:
West’s talent agency, CAA had announced that they will no longer be working with West.
Film and television studio MRC announced that have shelved a fully completed documentary focuses on West in light of his antisemitic comments. When asked if the documentary would be sent to any film festivals, executives at MRC explained, “all activities are being pulled.”
Vasquez refused to work with West because he refused to retract his anti-Semetic statements.

Oct. 26, 2022:
West’s non-accredited private school in California, Donda, sent out an email to student’s parents, notifying them that the school would shut down immediately for the remainder of the school year and that the decision came “at the discretion of our founder” according to Hollywood Unlocked

Oct. 27, 2022:
Shoe company Skechers released a statement that said West “arrived unannounced and without invitation” to one of their locations in Los Angeles. Two Skechers executives escorted him about after “a brief conversation” and “Sketchers is not considering and has no intention of working with West.”
West’s Instagram account was reinstated and since he has uploaded posts responding to companies that have cut ties with him. One of his posts is directed towards Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor Talent agency, who also spoke out against West and his statements. The post said, “This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am.”

Oct. 31, 2022:
West was suspended from Instagram once again for posting, “I gotta get the Jewish business people to make the contracts fair or die trying.”

Since:
Kanye claims he has lost 2 billion dollars throughout the course of the month because of the backlash of his statements.
His Twitter account has been reinstated.
Four sources came forward to CNN and said that West wanted to name his 2018 album Hitler, but ultimately went with the name “Ye”. Along with this, a former business executive who worked alongside West told CNN about his interest in Hitler and how he would praise the dictator “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.”
West has repeatedly defended Hitler in interviews.