Kanye West news – live: Rapper to buy Parler as George Floyd’s family threatens to sue

Kanye West has entered into an agreement to buy Parler, the right-wing social media app that’s been banned by Apple and Google multiple times and was used to coordinate the 6 January riots.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said the Donda artist said on the acquisition.

The announcement comes on the heels of George Floyd’s family responding to the rapper after he sparked fresh controversy by claiming that the 46-year-old Black man died from fentanyl abuse and that a police officer’s knee “wasn’t even on his neck like that”.

West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, made the claims in an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast on Saturday while discussing Candace Owens’s documentary.

“They hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” said Ye.

Floyd’s family responded to the Donda rapper’s drug claims via civil rights attorney Lee Merritt.

“While one cannot defame the dead, the family of #GeorgeFloyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Key Points

• Rapper to buy right-wing social media app Parler

• George Floyd’s family may sue Kanye West over false claims about his death

• What exactly did Kanye West say about George Floyd’s death?

ICYMI: Leaked videos reveal West made antisemitic comments that were edited out of Tucker Carlson interview

13:45 , Johanna Chisholm

Kanye West made a string of antisemitic comments that were edited out of his interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News earlier this month, according to a report.

The rapper, who is currently banned from Twitter and Instagram for a string of separate antisemitic posts, also made bizarre statements that “fake children” had been put in his home to manipulate his own children. The controversial fashion mogul also talked about having visions of “kinetic energy” that he is sent by God.

The footage never made the two-part interview between West and the right-wing TV host, but was obtained by Vice’s Motherboard.

In the interview, West told Carlson that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, whom he described as a “known eugenics,” created the organisation with the KKK “to control the Jew population.”

Graeme Massie has more about the edited out clips from the Fox News interview here.

Kanye West made anti-Semitic comments that were edited out of Carlson interview

Kanye West says he was ‘happy to have crossed that line’ while doubling down on antisemitic remarks

13:15 , Johanna Chisholm

Kanye West acknowledged that his antisemitics posts online did not mean that he intended “harm” for Jewish people, but he remained steadfast in defending his remarks, telling Page Six that he was “happy to have crossed that line”.

West’s response to the ongoing fallout that was trigged by his recent comments shared on social media earlier this month came while he was leaving the premiere of Candace Owens’s documentary in Nashville on last week.

In the video footage captured by Page Six, the 45-year-old rapper can be seen leaving the Woolworth Theater when one of the photographers can be heard asking him if he wished “harm on Jewish people?”

West immediately responded by saying, “no, no way,” and then went on to couch that response by claiming how “in Hollywood” if you call someone out for “bad business” that’s, in his view, often characterised as being “antisemitic”.

“Hey, if you call somebody out for bad business, that means you’re being anti-Semitic. I feel happy to have crossed the line of that idea so we can speak openly about things,”he said to Page Six.

Catch up with the full report from The Independent here.

Kanye West doubles down on antisemitic remarks in first moment caught on camera

Parler CEO George Farmer, married to Candace Owens, praises Kanye West’s acquisition of right-wing app

12:45 , Johanna Chisholm

Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer, who is married to conservative commentator Candace Owens - an outspoken supporter of embattled Kanye West - welcomed the rapper’s acquisition of the right-wing social media app.

“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” said Mr Farmer in a statement on the artist, now known as Ye, making an agreement to purchase the social media platform.

“Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again. Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honored to help him achieve his goals.”

Mr Farmer has been married to Ms Owens since August 2019, when the pair of conservative figures married at the Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Ms Owens, who was photographed alongside Ye earlier this month as the pair stepped out in the controversy-stirring “White Lives Matter” t-shirts at Paris Fashion Week, has continued to bat for the rapper, who continues to make headlines with a recent string of antisemitic remarks aired both online and in interviews.

Donald Trump privately warns that Kanye West’s recent tirades are concerning

12:15 , Johanna Chisholm

Donald Trump, who once posed arm-in-arm with Kanye West at the foot of Trump Tower after the rapper embraced the then-president elect and has famously at one time called him a “genius”, is privately rebuking the artist’s recent public tirades against Jewish people, according to Rolling Stone.

The former president has reportedly confided in multiple people close to him that the rapper’s social media blasts, in which he said he planned to go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE,” have led him to believe that West is acting too “crazy” and he should seek out professional “help”.

Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Rolling Stone that the one-term president is intentionally avoiding commenting on the scandals that have erupted between the rapper and the Jewish community.

Ohio pastor Darrell Scott has also confided in the magazine about Trump’s reaction to the ongoing fallout from West’s comments, noting in an interview that he spoke with the former president after West’s now infamous interview with Tucker Carlson aired, during which he put Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on blast.

“Two minutes after the Tucker segment ended, I called up Trump and asked him, ‘So, what did you think?’” Mr Scott told Rolling Stone.

“Interesting,” the twice-impeached president responded, before Mr Scott relayed how he went on to add, “I will say this — he loves Trump!”

Parler releases statement on Twitter about Kanye West acquisition

11:35 , Johanna Chisholm

Parlement Technologies, the parent company of the right-wing social media app Parler, announced on Twitter that the company’s acquisition by Kanye West will ensure its “future role” as a pioneering uncancellable free speech platform.

“Parlement Technologies is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement in principle for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to acquire the Parler platform. The acquisition ensures Parler a future role in creating an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome,” the company wrote in a tweet shared early on Monday morning.

Kanye West to buy right-wing social media app Parler to protect ‘conservative opinions’

10:53 , Johanna Chisholm

Kanye West is buying Parler, the right-wing social media app that’s been banned by Apple and Google multiple times and was used to coordinate the January 6th riots.

The rapper, known as Ye, joined the platform today.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said Mr West.

“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech. Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again. Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honored to help him achieve his goals”, said George Farmer, the chief executive of Parler’s parent company, Parlement Technologies.

Read more in this developing story here with Adam Smith.

Kanye West to buy right-wing social media app Parler

Stephen Jackson responds to Kanye West following George Floyd death claims

09:14 , Peony Hirwani

Stephen Jackson has slammed Kanye West for his comments about George Floyd.

The former NBA player posted a video on Instagram on Sunday, calling West’s remarks “clout chasing”.

In a short clip, Jackson indirectly criticised West, among others, for taking advantage of Floyd’s death by “dissing” him.

“It’s all noted,” he captioned the clip. “To say u a Legend in music @kanyewest it’s sad that u still gotta talk about other people lives to be relevant is wack. Its really sad u doing all this over some ‘P***y.’”

When and how did George Floyd die?

08:44 , Peony Hirwani

On 25 May 2020, a convenience store employee in Minneapolis called 911 and said that George Floyd, 46, had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. When the clerk asked him to return the cigarettes he refused, and seemed “drunk and not in control of himself,” according to 911 logs.

Soon after that, four officers – Derek Chauvin, plus Tou Thao, and new recruits Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng – arrived at the scene.

Police said they found Floyd sitting on his car, where he appeared intoxicated and resisted arrest.

The group moved to detain Floyd and he was soon face-down on the ground, as a bystander began live-streaming video of the encounter on Facebook.

Video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than 8 minutes, as he pleads over and over again that he can’t breathe.

A medical examiner later described Floyd’s death as a homicide, and said he went into cardiopulmonary arrest as Chauvin kept his knee on his neck.

The examination also pointed out “hypertensive heart disease”, “fentanyl intoxication” and “recent methamphetamine use” as other notable medical conditions surrounding the death.

Read more:

When and how did George Floyd die?

What exactly did Kanye West say about George Floyd’s death?

08:14 , Peony Hirwani

Kanye West spoke about George Floyd’s death while discussing Candace Owens’s documentary The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM during an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast on Saturday.

“They hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” said West, who legally changed his name to Ye.

He then went on to compare George Floyd to fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who died from cancer last November. And he also attacked what he called the “Jewish media”, by whom he claimed to have been “blocked”.Read more link

American rapper Boosie Badazz calls out Kanye West for ‘sick’ George Floyd claims

07:44 , Peony Hirwani

American rapper Boosie Badazz has called out Kanye West for his recent comments about George Floyd’s death.

“YOU REALLY HAVE A DEEP HATRED IN YOUR HEART FOR BLACK PEOPLE,” the rapper, real name Torence Ivy Hatch, wrote. “First you said slavery was a choice, then white lives matter, now George Floyd.

“AINT NOBODY GO TELL YO A** YOU SICK FOR DOING THIS TO OUR RACE,” he added. “If u think u white JUST DO IT.”

Bishop Talbert Swan condemns Kanye West following George Floyd death claims

07:10 , Peony Hirwani

Bishop Talbert Swan has hit out at Kanye West following his false claims about George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer.

“George Floyd was murdered,” he wrote. “We all watched the video in horror. He did not die of a fentanyl overdose.

“Kanye West is a pathetic, boot-licking, white supremacy apologist. I hope Floyd’s family sues the ‘white lives matter’ shirt off his back.”

George Floyd’s family may sue Kanye West over false claims about his death

06:48 , Peony Hirwani

George Floyd’s family may sue Kanye West over the rapper’s false claims about his death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer.

The rapper sparked new controversy by claiming that Floyd died from the drug fentanyl and that a police officer’s knee “wasn’t even on his neck like that”.

Following the comments, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented Floyd’s family, took to Twitter to suggest that the family may now take legal action against West.

“While one cannot defame the dead, the family of George Floyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” he tweeted on Sunday.

“Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines & diminishes the Floyd family’s fight.”

Read more:

George Floyd’s family may sue Kanye West over false claims about his death