Presidential contender Kanye West’s latest campaign finance report reveals that, while he’s personally spending money, no one gave a single dollar to the rapper-turned-Hitler-sympathizer all year.
The filing, which the campaign submitted on Monday to itemize its expenses over the last three months of 2022, also shows that Ye paid Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes more than $9,000 for “travel reimbursement” on the same date in November that the rapper and Fuentes dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
Fuentes told The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon that the travel expenses were “incurred by myself and the team when I relocated to LA in November to do work for Kanye 2020,” referencing the official name of Ye’s still-unofficial 2024 operation.
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Yiannopoulos also appears on the filing, receiving $40,000 for “campaign wrap up services” in mid-December, when Yeezy fired him. Milo also received about $10,000 for a “domain transfer” on the same date as the Mar-a-Lago dinner. Yiannopoulos was paid at an address in Rome, Georgia, hometown of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the firebrand conservative who employed him as an intern.
But despite racking up more than $142,000 in expenses, as well as announcing an informal 2024 bid studded with stars of the far right, Ye reported receiving zero donations in all of 2022.
Ye’s downward spiral played out in the public eye over the course of several weeks last fall. It started when he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to a Paris fashion show, then quickly accelerated after a rambling appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show was revealed to have been edited to remove a slew of antisemitic remarks. In response to criticism, the rapper promised to go “death con 3” on the Jews, triggering former co-workers and acquaintances to out him as a deeply entrenched antisemite and longtime fan of Adolf Hitler, which in turn cost him lucrative business deals.
West’s November dinner with Trump, Fuentes, and Yiannopoulos at Mar-a-Lago quickly bred its own news cycle, after which Yeezy praised Hitler on Alex Jones’ show.
“Well, I see good things about Hitler,” West told Jones, who tried in vain to talk the rapper back from the edge. “Every human being has value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.”
As for West’s informal 2024 campaign, Yiannopoulos was canned in December, days after the Jones interview. At the time, the far-right provocateur told The Daily Beast, he and Ye came to a “mutual conclusion” that Yiannopoulos would “step away”—a decision that apparently netted Milo $40,000. The campaign’s increasing internal tensions only led Ye to reach further into the far-right gutter for talent, hiring racist YouTuber “Sneako.”
As part of the fallout, Ye also lost his new campaign treasurer, replacing him with professional treasurer Patrick Krason in December. Krason’s company saw a nearly $40,000 windfall that month, the latest filing shows, including payments for travel, web services, archival video services, legal fees, and $10,000 for campaign and office supplies.
Ye also shelled out thousands in compliance fees to a company called GSF, which The Daily Beast revealed last year was connected to veteran Republican operatives. The company has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ye for financial services since he launched his 2020 bid, a campaign that turned out to be secretly run by well-connected GOP elites, The Daily Beast previously reported.
While that campaign saw an influx of public support, much of it came from young hype beasts looking to flip collectible merch, The Daily Beast previously reported, including “contributions” from teens and unknown drop-shippers operating overseas. But thanks to shipping hang-ups and fundraising regulations, Ye was forced to refund hundreds of thousands of dollars. His filings show a total $230,000 in refunds this election cycle.
The Daily Beast sent comment requests to Yiannopoulos, Krason, and Ali Alexander—who now works for the West team—but none of them immediately responded.
