Former Republican President Donald Trump attacked rapper, designer and recently announced 2024 presidential candidate Ye in a post on his social media network Truth Social. Trump referred to Ye as "a seriously troubled man."
The criticism came shortly after Trump faced backlash for meeting with known White nationalist, White supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
Trump's post marked his latest attempt to distance himself from a highly controversial meeting with White nationalist leader Fuentes—who previously advocated "something like Taliban rule in America."
The former Republican President insisted he didn't know Fuentes, who accompanied Ye to a dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and resort club.
Trump went on to accuse Ye of of having been "decimated in his business and virtually everything else" in a nod to Ye's string of recent controversies over repeated antisemitic comments which caused the loss of most of his valuable business collaborations.
Trump posted:
"So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed 'advice'."
"He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn't know, the other a political person who I haven't seen in years. I told him don't run for office, a total waste of time, can't win."
"Fake News went CRAZY!"
You can see Trump's post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump claimed in another post Ye came to him "for advice concerning some of his difficulties" and to discuss Ye's presidential run, which he officially announced last week.
Trump added he and Ye "got along great" and Ye "expressed no anti-Semitism." Trump closed out his other message with an emphatic denial he ever knew Fuentes.
You can see the post here:
Fuentes, for his part, said on his podcast he "had a very interesting dinner" with Ye and Trump, though he added he feels "a little bit embarrassed in a certain sense because, you know, this has become a little bit of a scandal for President Trump."
Ye said Trump was "very impressed" with Fuentes and sources told reporters Trump openly praised the avowed White nationalist and White supremacist, who referred to Trump as "a hero of mine."
It seems no one is buying Trump's explanations and he, Ye and Fuentes were harshly criticized.
Trump's comments on Ye are only the latest controversy to involve the rapper recently.
Ye received backlash after White Lives Matter shirts—including ones worn by Ye and Candace Owens—were unveiled during his YZY Paris Fashion Week show. As a result, Ye went on several misogynoir and antisemitic rants and was accused of anti-Blackness by community activists.
Instagram locked Ye out of his account after he posted an antisemitic conspiracy theory in screenshots of text messages with Sean "Diddy" Combs.
In response, Ye returned to Twitter after a long hiatus to accuse Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of personally locking him out of his account after Instagram announced it locked him out for posts that violated its policies. Ye also tweeted he'd go "death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE," prompting media attention and further accusations of antisemitism.
He returned to Instagram late last month, shortly after he was escorted out of the Sketchers headquarters to announce he'd lost $2 billion in one day.
Adidas announced it was ending its $1.5 billion deal with Ye. Additionally, TJX Companies—which owns department stores and TJ Maxx—and Gap said they would no longer sell Ye's apparel.
The losses were significant enough Forbesreported Ye had been knocked off Forbes' billionaires list.
Undeterred, Ye continued to make headlines for sharing antisemitic content, including support for professional basketball player Kyrie Irving who was suspended by the NBA's Brooklyn Nets for sharing a link to an Amazon listing for an antisemitic film that includes denials the Holocaust occurred in addition to other antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Unlike Ye, Irving apologized and stated he was previously unaware of the antisemitism in the film.
