Kanye West to Buy Parler, Joining Crowd of Right-Wing Social Media

Earlier this month, Ye disrupted his YZY show at Paris Fashion Week by wearing a T-shirt featuring the words “White Lives Matter,” a phrase that the Anti-Defamation League has called hate speech. He was photographed at the show alongside Candace Owens, a conservative commentator who was wearing a similar shirt and is married to Mr. Farmer.

Ms. Owens, whose Twitter account was temporarily suspended in 2020 over pandemic-related posts and whose Facebook posts have sometimes been flagged with fact-checking labels, has publicly voiced support for Ye. She tweeted this month that “Ye is my friend.” In April, she tweeted that she loved the way he thinks.

Last week, Ye posed for red carpet photos with Ms. Owens at the Nashville premiere of her movie, “Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of B.L.M.” The film claims that after Mr. Floyd died in police custody, setting off worldwide protests, the Black Lives Matter movement used the unrest to raise millions of dollars. Ms. Owens has railed against the movement and described Mr. Floyd as a “horrible human being.”

After Ye wore the “White Lives Matter” T-shirt, Adidas said it was reviewing its partnership with him. Last month, Ye notified Gap via a letter that he was terminating their partnership involving the Yeezy Gap apparel line. Citing breach of contract, Ye said he was moving ahead with plans to open his own stores. The Gap brand president, Mark Breitbard, wrote in a note to employees that Gap and Ye had not been “aligned” on how to work together to deliver their shared vision.

Ye wrote on Instagram after the fashion show that “my one T-shirt took allllll the attention,” but much of the reaction was negative. Sean Combs, the rapper known as Diddy, posted a video on the platform criticizing the situation, saying “it’s not a joke” and urging his audience not to wear or buy the shirt.

In early October, Ye suggested on Instagram that Jewish people were controlling Mr. Combs. Instagram removed the posts and restricted his account; Meta, which owns Instagram, said it places restrictions on accounts that repeatedly break its rules.

Days later, after returning to Twitter following a nearly two-year absence, Ye said in a series of posts that he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the United States’ defense readiness condition, known as DEFCON. He also wrote that “you guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

source: nytimes.com