Kanye West allegedly wanted to name album ‘Hitler’ – latest

In recent weeks, a flood of companies have severed ties with Kanye West amid a whirlwind of controversy engulfing the 45-year-old rapper and fashion designer.

West stoked the backlash when he wore a White Lives Matter shirt to his Yeezy Season 9 show at Paris Fashion Week in early October.

Then on social media, West threatened to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” before doubling down in a succession of antisemitic statements.

On Tuesday morning, Adidas became the latest company to join the exodus when it announced the end of its partnership with West. It marked what’s widely viewed as the largest financial blow to the rapper, who just days ago declared that the brand “can’t drop me”.

Forbes had estimated West’s net worth at $2bn with most of that wealth tied up in Yeezy, for which he earns an estimated $220m annually as part of his production deal with Adidas.

Here, Bevan Hurley breaks down what the future of West’s empire will look like in the wake of his latest controversy.

Kanye West’s Donda Academy is the latest victim of the fallout from the rapper’s antisemitic remarks: The unaccredited K-8 private Christian school announced to parents that it would be closing.

The private California school’s principal sent an emailed statement to parents and guardians on Wednesday night stating, “there is no school tomorrow,” The Times first reported.

“At the discretion of our Founder, Donda Academy will close for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year effective immediately,” wrote principal Jason Angell in the emailed statement.

The Simi Valley school’s principal added that these closures were not permanent and intends to “begin afresh in September of 2023.”

The Independent has more details here.

Kanye West is facing intense backlash over his recent antisemitic comments, with a number of companies and brands announcing they will no longer do business with the rapper or his brand Yeezy.

However, despite having limited access to his social media accounts in recent weeks, the Yeezy founder has continued to express antisemitic views in interviews, including in a since-deleted interview with Drink Champs podcast, in which he claimed he could make antisemitic comments and still have the support of his longtime partner Adidas.

West has since been proven wrong, as a number of companies, including Adidas, have announced they will no longer work with him moving forward, while condemning his remarks.

From Adidas to The RealReal, these are the companies that have cut ties with West.

A former executive who used to work with Kanye West is alleging the rapper had an open “obsession” with Adolf Hitler and used to reminisce about the “great things” 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, had created a hostile environment during their time working with the 45-year-old, in part because of his obsession with the leader of the Nazi Party.

“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 Independent has reached out to West for comment on the allegations raised in the CNN report but did not hear back before publication.

Get the full details with The Independent here.

A recent poll in the UK has found that the most sought after Halloween costumes for 2022 include none other than embattled rapper Kanye West.

A survey of 2,000 adults also discovered Will Smith, Lady Gaga and Pete Davidson are among the “go-to” looks.

Marvel character get-ups were popular, including Spiderman, Dr Strange and Black Widow.

The Independent has the full details of top costumes for Halloween this year here.

Quentin Tarantino has addressed Kanye West’s claims that he stole the idea for Django Unchained from him.

The director – who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 2012 film – appeared as a guest on Thursday’s episode (27 October) of Jimmy Kimmel Live, during which he directly spoke about West’s allegations.

West said that he had pitched a slavery-themed story for the video, which never came to fruition.

In part of his response to Kimmel about the accusation, Tarantino had this to say: “I had the idea for Django for a while before I ever met Kanye.”

Annabel Nugent has Tarantino’s full remarks to the late-night host here.

Though it was unclear if he was still locked out of his Twitter account on Friday, Kanye West has been experiencing an onslaught of backlash after he made a series of antisemitic remarks during interviews and on social media.

The rapper, who has been involved in various controversies over the years, has been dropped by both Adidas and Balenciaga over the “hateful and dangerous” comments. A number of fellow celebrities have also condemned his behaviour.

Tracing the latest controversy, The Independent’s Isobel Lewis breaks down where this all began and what has happened since the initial incident at Paris Fashion Week, during which he and right-wing commentator Candace Owens wore “White Lives Matter” t-shirts.

Twitter has not commented on the status of Kanye West‘s account amid unverified reports that he’d regained access after weeks of being locked out for posting antisemitic messages earlier this month.

Rumours that he’d been let back on the site swirled on Friday morning, just hours after Elon Musk successfully took over the social media platform for $44bn, a move that many speculated would lead to previously suspended and locked accounts being made accessible by the self-described free speech absolutist.

It seemed a good omen that on Wednesday night, the 45-year-old rapper had seen Instagram reverse the ban on his account, his preferred platform for posting. He’d previously lost access to posting on both social media platforms earlier this month for sharing separate antisemitic posts that broke with each company’s terms of service.

Speculation about the status of West’s Twitter account began to grow on Friday as some outlets began to report that his account had been unsuspended, which was incorrect as the rapper had only been restricted from posting and using his account.

Catch up on the latest here with The Independent’s full report.

Kanye West returned to Instagram after a ban from the platform and 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, posted again on his Instagram. He’d been blocked from doing so 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 an Instagram story and 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 him in recent weeks.

West shared a purported screenshot of a text conversation with “Quinn Emmanuel,” likely referring to the attorneys from Quinn Emanuel and Stradley Ronon who have previously worked for West on his partnership with Gap.

“As to adidas, you can start to make new designs for footwear, apparel and accessories immediately,” the text read. “As to Gap, the non-compete expires December, 15 2022.”

Johanna Chisholm has the details below.

Confusion over the status of Kanye West’s Twitter account – with unverified reports suggesting he may have been reinstated – led to a near equal chorus of celebration (via fans, free speech activists and far-right agitators) and condemnation (via everyone else).

“Elon’s first move on his first day is to bring Kanye West back. Is Twitter‘s new motto ‘making antisemitism great again’?” observed one Twitter user, while another in their camp tweeted: “Twitter: Under New and Anti-Semitic Management.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group of Jewish Federations across Canada, had a more ominous warning about the reports that the previously locked-out rapper might be back on the social media platform.

“We are deeply concerned by this development. If social media platforms are not interested in fighting online antisemitism & racism, government needs to step in with legislation. We cannot continue to allow antisemitism to be given a platform,” the group tweeted.

On the other side of the spectrum, comments were far more enthusiastic about the 45-year-old’s potential return to the microblogging site.

“It’s happening folks! @kanyewest is back on TWITTER!!!” tweeted Lavern Spicer, a Republican who ran for election to the US House to represent Florida’s 24th Congressional District and lost this past summer

Others took his possible return as a positive sign that the former US President, Donald Trump, could also be returning to his once preferred social media platform of choice.

Tweets like, “Waiting for our Trumpooo..” and “please announce Kanye West and Donald Trump as Co CEOs of Twitter !” quickly began circulating as the news broke that the Donda artist was potentially returning to the microblogging site.