Editor’s Note: Whether on screen or off, Hollywood can always be counted on to keep us entertained. This is especially true when it comes to politics. Liberty Nation's Hollyweird column shines the spotlight on Tinseltown’s A-listers and their wild and wacky takes on today’s current events.
Ye is at it again. The man just can’t keep himself out of the spotlight. It seems he believes in the adage that even bad press is good press, but the rapper may have gone too far this time. Yes, Kanye West has announced his intention as a candidate for the 2024 presidential election, but his anti-sematic remarks, getting kicked off Twitter, and Adidas launching an investigation into his less-than-honorable actions may hurt the commander-in-chief wannabe’s chances at the Oval Office – if he really had any to begin with, that is. So, let’s take a look at a couple of his recent antics.
Ye for President
Not only has Ye announced his determination to run for office again, but now claims he’s asked former President Donald Trump to be his running mate. Imagine that! Ye said he caught Trump off guard with that request, and that the former president was “most perturbed” about that. Ye also suggested that he has recruited provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos as his campaign manager.
The Last Dinner
Recently, Trump hosted a dinner with Kanye as a guest. It’s not like the pair weren’t friends before, but this time the rapper threw a wrench into the plans when he brought along Nick Fuentes, known to be a white supremacist and a Holocaust denier. Mr. Trump denied any knowledge of who the man was, saying Fuentes was allowed in at Mar-a-Lago by security, even though only Kanye’s name was on the list. “Fuentes apparently did not show his ID and the car’s driver, a frequent guest at the club, got in using a credit card after misplacing her license,” reported the AP.
Fallout, from both sides of the aisle, quickly ensued that Trump would dare host a dinner with Ye, who has recently been spouting anti-sematic talk and bizarrely apologizing for Nazis. Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman said “it was wrong and inappropriate to have that meeting. White supremacy has no place in our nation's culture and it's antithetical to anything we stand for as Americans.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell commented, “Let me just say that there is no room in the Republican party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy. Anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view in my judgment is highly unlikely ever to be elected president of the United States.” Even Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) voiced his opinion: “I don't think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican party.”
True to nature, Trump took to Twitter to explain the situation:
“We have very strong security, especially with the extremely talented Secret Service Agents on premises, but when I know someone, as I did Ye, we're not going to have my guests strip searched, thrown against walls, and otherwise physically beaten. The anonymous sources don't exist. Stories to the contrary are FAKE NEWS!”
Ye Loves Nazis and Jews?
Elon Musk took over Twitter, determined to make it a platform of free speech. “If in doubt, let the speech exist,” he had said, describing how he planned to approach content moderation. He reinstated numerous accounts, including Trump’s, that were banned. And, it appears, Ye took full advantage, thinking it was okay to post anti-sematic tweets. But that didn’t work out so well for him.
Ye’s account was suspended after he posted a picture of a swastika inside a Star of David that he indicated would be his 2024 presidential campaign logo. “Sorry, but you have gone too far,” Musk wrote. “This is not love.” The new CEO further explained, “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”
The rapper even managed to make talk show host Alex Jones uncomfortable with some of his comments, saying “I like Hitler. I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.” Obviously, those comments and tweets did not go over well, and Ye found himself dropped from his talent agency. Several companies, such as GAP and Adidas, said they would no longer work with him. According to Ye, he lost “two billion dollars in one day.”
Adidas’ Investigation
After Adidas cut the rapper loose, former Yeezy and Adidas staffers told Rolling Stone that working with the musician was an abusive relationship. A letter titled “The Truth About Yeezy: A Call to Action for Adidas Leadership,” described the “abuse” they’d had to deal with and accused the company of lacking “responsibility, accountability, and protection that Adidas failed to provide their employees throughout what we experienced as years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks.”
According to accounts from staffers, Ye used “porn, bullying and mind games,” creating a “toxic environment.” Several people claimed he’d shown them intimate pictures of his then-wife Kim Kardashian. Adidas announced last week that it had launched an investigation into the claims.
Tune in next time to see what else Tinseltown has planned.
