Kanye West hopped on Instagram earlier this month like a man on a mission.
“Since this is my first divorce,” the rapper wrote in all caps, “I need to know what I should do about my daughter being put on TikTok against my will?”
The declaration itself wasn’t too much of a shock. The rapper had been on a publicity tear ever since New Year’s Eve, parading his new girlfriend Julia Fox around the world after the pair met in Miami, with each meticulously-planned date seemingly outdoing the last. By now, even the most celebrity news-adverse people have surely heard of the Carbone outing, Madonna hangs, Birkin bag handouts, and Fox admitting that she’s sort of West’s muse—much in the way she served as Josh Safdie’s muse in Uncut Jams (her pronunciation).
While it’s almost certain that West had been hoping his new fling would stir up some press—Fox herself recently admitted the rapper wanted her to discuss their showmance—it didn’t seem to be the kind of attention that he clearly craved. The couple’s headlines were more so centered on Fox, with interest piqued about the 32-year-old, New York City-raised, former dominatrix who had managed to catch the eye of West.
There was also widespread speculation that West was only using his budding romance with Fox to get a rise out of his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, a form of retaliation against her for moving on with Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson. (It didn’t help that West himself repeatedly mentioned wanting to win Kardashian back, even changing the lyrics in “Runaway” to include her name.)
Although Kardashian had filed for divorce last February, things from the outside seemed amicable. Kardashian wished West a happy Father’s Day and birthday on social media and participated in promotion for his new album Donda. In return, West supported Kardashian when she hosted SNL in October.
Things took a sharp turn when Kardashian was spotted on dates with Davidson. Reports soon followed that West was digging his heels in when it came to their divorce proceedings. He told podcast hosts they were still legally married and in December purchased a house across the street from the family home. And by January, he had taken up with Fox, making sure that several cameras were documenting every outing.
Still, Kardashian didn’t take the bait of giving West any form of acknowledgement. In a recent Vogue cover story interview, she barely offered up anything about West. However, West’s jibe at her—and at the expense of their eight-year-old daughter—was a step too far, prompting her to respond to West in a rare public statement, pleading with him to keep their family matters private.
“Kanye’s constant attacks on me in interviews and on social media is actually more hurtful than any TikTok North might create,” she wrote on Instagram. “Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all. From the beginning I have wanted nothing but a healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship because it is what is best for our children, and it saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way.”
Ye and Julia Fox attend the Kenzo Fall/Winter 2022/2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2022, in Paris, France.
Pascal Le Segretain/GettyBut Kardashian’s plea fell on deaf ears. West pounced on the attention that she finally gave him (his later posts and an anecdote Kardashian shared with Vogue seemed to confirm he no longer had her cellphone number) and decided to up the ante.
Over the weekend, he continued to beg for Kardashian back, told his fans to root for their reunion, and channeled his inner Regina George, ending his friendship with Kid Cudi for being pals with Davidson. By Monday, his fledgling romance with Fox was over—on Valentine’s Day, no less. While Fox claimed she hadn’t shed a tear over a man in years, West delivered a truckload of sad-looking flowers to Kardashian.
It didn’t stop there. West continued to share screenshots of texts with Kardashian, who begged him to stop singling out Davidson, highlighting the valid concern that it was endangering his safety. Still, he continued to mock Davidson and prod Kardashian, all while claiming this was his way of attempting to win her back.
Suddenly, all his posts were wiped, apart from a tidy, publicist-approved statement. “I know sharing screenshots was jarring and came off as harassing Kim,” the statement read. “I take accountability. I’m still learning in real time. I don’t have all the answers. To be [a] good leader is to be a good listener.”
It only took a few hours before that statement was wiped from his account and West was back to targeting Davidson, as well as Saturday Night Live, its creator Lorne Michaels (posting his Jewish birth name, for some reason), “godless” liberal media, and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. (This all, of course, came in the wake of his manufactured feud with Billie Eilish.)
All the while, fans and the media alike were watching his shitposting unfold, with his Instagram following increasing by more than 1 million.
Then on Thursday night, as the shtick was wearing off, West deleted all his posts as he rather conveniently had some news to share. Not only was his new album Donda 2 forthcoming, set for release on Feb. 22, but it would be exclusively on his $200 Stem Player, a modernized version of the ’90s digital audio player HitClips. So, listening to his new album will cost you around $230… in a global pandemic that’s left many people struggling.
The timing of the announcement, after days of cooking up a media firestorm, seemed like more than just a coincidence. Had this all been an elaborate, bizarre, and potentially endangering PR stunt orchestrated by West to ensure that he had the world’s attention when he announced his latest project?
If so, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Even with the release of Donda in August, West pulled out all the stops to make sure all attention was on him. He traveled around the country hosting listening parties at various arenas, even living out of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium while he finished up the album.
In his hometown of Chicago, he managed to rope in Marilyn Manson and DaBaby—all but guaranteeing him a flurry of angry headlines. Earlier that year, Manson was accused of sexual assault, physical violence, emotional abuse, and a litany of other horrifying offenses by former partners, including actress Evan Rachel Wood, assistants, and even industry peers. (Manson denies the allegations.) DaBaby was only a few weeks out from his own fall from grace after going on a homophobic rant and making disparaging comments about people suffering from HIV/AIDS at a music festival in Miami.
Yet there West was, proudly presenting them as allies as he tried in vain to make some kind of statement about so-called “cancel culture.” For his final trick, he had Kardashian come out on stage in a wedding dress, seemingly recreating their wedding vows before walking off together, sparking hope of a reconciliation.
But all that seemed minor compared to the lead-up and aftermath of Ye in 2018.
A month before the album dropped, West, who had taken up wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, stopped by TMZ’s offices in May. During the live interview, West, flanked by far-right troll Candace Owens, said he loved Donald Trump and that 400 years of slavery “sounds like a choice.”
“You was there for 400 years,” he said, insinuating that it was somehow slaves’ fault that they couldn’t escape and overthrow their oppressors. “And it’s all of y’all?”
He didn’t help himself when he effectively doubled down on Twitter later. “Of course, I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will,” he wrote. “My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved.”
Ye was finally released in June after West said he re-recorded the entire album following his TMZ visit. A few months later, West paid a visit to Trump at the White House in October, and in a 10-minute televised meeting, offered up some random thoughts to Trump and the press pool.
Things were quiet for a spell, until West announced in July 2020 that he was running for president, despite missing several states’ deadlines to register as a candidate. (In December, The Daily Beast revealed that elite members of the Republican Party had secretly been fueling West’s longshot POTUS efforts.)
At a rally held in South Carolina, West broke down in tears when he told a crowd that he and Kardashian had considered having an abortion when Kardashian was pregnant with their first child, North. “I almost killed my daughter,” he cried, while proposing a policy to give every family $1 million for having a baby. “So even if my wife were to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world, even when I didn’t want to. She stood up, and she protected that child.”
While West claimed to be serious about running for president, never mind the fact that he’d launched his campaign four months before Election Day, he also was encouraging would-be-voters to attend his Sunday Service events. Two weeks after his initial announcement, West teased on Twitter that Donda would be coming the next week, but quickly deleted the post.
With no immediate album to promote, West seemed to lose enthusiasm about becoming the next president, ditching any serious campaign efforts. In the end, he ended up on the ballot of just 12 states, receiving around 60,000 votes.
And lest we forget, back in 2005, West’s infamous rant against George W. Bush in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—“George Bush doesn’t care about Black people”—came just three days after the release of his sophomore album Late Registration; his third album, Graduation, saw him spark an epic chart-topping feud with rapper 50 Cent; and around the release of 2016’s The Life of Pablo, he declared serial rapist Bill Cosby “innocent,” reignited his feud with Taylor Swift, and publicly begged Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion.
Kanye West performs onstage during his Jesus Is King album and film experience at The Forum on October 23, 2019, in Inglewood, California.
Kevin Winter/GettyWhile West’s latest antics could have been a sincere yet misguided effort to salvage his marriage to Kardashian, as history shows, it also could have a self-declared genius trying to ensure his latest album and product would make a big splash.
And if there needed to be any more convincing, West had an update on Friday afternoon: since the announcement of Donda 2 streaming exclusively on his Stem Player, he had made $1.4 million in sales.
“That’s faster than I’ve ever sold any T-shirt,” he boasted. “I’ve already won by not being afraid to move. Now we’re winning because there are true supporters that have invested their hard-earned money in my vision of freedom. I love and appreciate everyone who believes my promise of creating a brighter future.”
