The credibility that Kanye West lost is irreversible. He hard-earned the success that he was relishing and an empire built with his flawless musical intuitions, productions, and crazy artistry. The downhill of the ‘Donda’ rapper began a long-time, but the climax occurred in October 2022. During Paris Fashion Week, he introduced Yeezy shirts with ‘White Lives Matter’ printed on them. Since then, Ye has been on a hate spree against racial and religious communities. The ‘College Dropout’ rapper then went on to target the Jews and warned them to call “defcon3” on them.
He accused the community of monopolizing the industry and treating other artists like their puppets. For his act, he received backlash and ban from various social media platforms, but things did not get better. He announced his 2024 Presidential campaign and included Nick Fuentes in his squad. But, when he praised Hitler and did an explosive interview with Alex Jones, there was no turning back for the Atlanta rapper. Along with losing credibility, deals, and projects, he also lost honorary tokens conferred upon him by the local communities.
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The SAIC Will No Longer Give The Honorary Degree In The Name Of Kanye West
Chicago has played a huge part in Ye’s life. At an early age, along with his mother, he left Georgia and moved to Chicago. It is when the passion for hip hop seeded and germinated. The rapper also has given back to the community from where he hailed. To honor his birthplace, Atlanta, he organized a listening party for the entire city before ‘Donda’ was released. He honored Chicago by naming his daughter after it. There are murals of the artist in Chicago and one of the finest art schools in Chicago also gave an honorary degree to him.
In 2015, the college granted an honorary degree to Kanye West. He first revealed the news while he was in conversation with Clique. During the conversation, he revealed, “I’m actually getting an honorary doctorate on May 5th (2015) from the Art Institute of Chicago”. West did his education in Chicago, and his mother was serving on the board of Chicago State University. But, the institute will no longer confer the honorary degree.
The School of the Art of Chicago revoked the degree given in the name of Kanye West. The Institute did so due to his “anti-Black, antisemitic, and incendiary statements”. A petition was started titled ‘Against Hate at SAIC’ to demand rescinding of the degree. 4,148 people signed the petition. The president of the institute Elissa Tenny condemned his recent actions. She said, “[Kanye West’s] anti-Black, antisemitic, and incendiary statements, particularly those directed at Black and Jewish communities, are disgusting and condemnable.
She continued, “His words and actions have been painful for our entire community and, particularly, for those of us who feel that our identities and life experiences are under attack.”
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Atlanta Also Canceled The Day Dedicated In The Rapper’s Name
Since the end months of 2022, Ye has displayed severely threatening behavior which harmed the sentiments of various communities. He also hurt his own kin wearing those ‘White Lives Matter Shirts’. The consequences thereby were that companies like Adidas and Balenciaga repealed the deals that they had with him. His colleagues condemned him for his hate-spewing speech including Pusha T, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and others. Now, his birthplace has abandoned the day specifically dedicated to the rapper.
In 2021, the rapper arranged a free listening party of ‘Donda’ at the Mercedes-Benz stadium. The stadium was packed with 42,000 people. The attendees included staff, students, and teachers from colleges in Atlanta. He performed on July 22nd, 2021.
On the day of the event, he was conferred with the Dr. Donda West Meritorious Service Award and they raised a plaque that read ‘Kanye West Day’. However, things after one year have changed. Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong said that she wants to be far from the rapper because of his anti-Semitic behavior. She said, “July 2021 proclamation did not envision that in 2022, the artist formerly known as Kanye West would boldly make such ugly and hurtful statements”.
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