Kanye West, also known as “Ye,” has officially gone too far with his outlandish commentary on various religious and ethnic groups, enough to get his net worth slashed in half due to different brands relinquishing their partnerships.
Ye stepped out onto the music scene and got his big break in 1998 after writing and producing a beat for a local Chicago rapper named Gravity for $8,000. Following his big break, West made headlines for his creative style in music, enough to where Jay Z, a multi-platinum artist, took an interest in him and his musical ability.
For years, West has been known for his outlandish and creative ideas. He has even been celebrated for his willingness to speak his mind throughout his career. His fans even call him a creative genius.
Throughout Ye’s career, he has done things out of the norm. During the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards, he ran up on stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for the best music video of the year. He claimed another nominee, Beyonce, deserved the award over Swift. During a live taping for relief of the damages following hurricane Katrina, West went off scripted and said: “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.”
“I was watching the MTV Music Awards when Kanye pulled that stunt and being a Swifty, I was so hurt for my girl Taylor, but above all, I knew that and other actions he has done could have been caused by an underline issue the public wasn’t aware of.” – Brooke Davis, Mental Health Counselor
As these different events and situations occurred with Ye, people began to raise a concern for his mental well-being. In 2016, after a psychiatric emergency, Ye was officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Once news struck of his diagnosis, he was mocked and called crazy by people in the media.
College student, Sabrina Artem, who was diagnosed with BPD in 2021, said “I always hid my diagnosis from people because of the backlash. Mental health disorders are a laughing stock and aren’t taken seriously, especially within the Black community.”
In recent years, the media has normalized and begun to see mental health disorders in a better light. Those with disorders have even been pitied and their actions aren’t taken as seriously as they would be for someone without a mental disorder.
West still continued with his outrageous public and political stunts like announcing he was running for the presidency in 2020 and recently announced he will be running for the presidency in 2024. In 2018 on TMZ Live, Ye said “You hear about slavery for 400 years, 400 years? That sounds like a choice to me. Like, that was there for 400 years and it’s all of ya’ll?”
His comments struck an uproar across social media platforms but his behavior didn’t result in any formative action.
In October 2022, during Paris Fashion week, West took to the stage wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt which shocked the world. Then on Oct. 6, Ye released a series of hate tweets against the Jewish Communities, which was officially the final straw.
Following his comments, brands and advertisers began to drop their affiliation with the hip-hop star.
Big brands like Adidas and Balenciaga announced their termination of affiliation with West following his anti-semetic comments, which expected Ye to lose $650 million, according to Forbes.
Not only did Ye lose his collaborations with those big brands, but his private school, Donda Academy, was closed down on Oct. 27. The school sent out an email to the students and parents stating that they closed due to their founders’ recent comments.
Ye’s public persona and outlandish actions recently have also affected his personal life. He was married for eight years to American Socialite Kim Kardashian, and the two share four children, but they announced their divorce earlier this year following some stunts he pulled during the last year of their marriage. Although after battling in court for the past few months Ye was granted joint custody but, is to pay Kardashian $200 thousand dollars a month for child support for their children.
West also took to Instagram to defend his actions saying “I’m still alive. This is love speech.” Which has struck social media in a negative way. Longtime Kanye fan, Ashley Bliss said, “I do think this may be Kanye’s last straw. I get that he has mental health issues but at this point, this may just be a narcissistic issue.”
