Fashion designer and music mogul Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has lost several brand partnerships after posting hate speech toward the Jewish community. Gap, Balenciaga, and Adidas ceased their deals with the rapper after his now-deleted outburst on Instagram and Twitter.
The backlash began when West wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt during his show during Fashion Week in Paris on October 3, 2022. A week later, his social media accounts were restricted, and West has now been removed from the Forbes Billionaires list.
And Yesterday, we learned that the Donda Academy, owned by West, has been closed for the rest of the year.
According to Yahoo entertainment, the Times of London obtained an email from the Academy’s principal, Jason Angell, to parents that read, “at the discretion of our founder, Donda Academy will close for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year effective immediately.”
Still, as much as I disagree with what West did-whether it was deliberate and malicious or he was only trying to put the spotlight on himself (we know he is a carnival barker), he is a human being, and he needs help and support. These are challenging times for him. Somebody or a group needs to reach out to him. In the meantime, we should pray for him.