Kanye West, in the midsts of a Pro Trump controversy, has cancelled his remaining shows for the Saint Pablo Tour. In what seems to be a self destructive decimation of the Yeezy brand, West has thrown away literally millions of dollars and thousands of fans.
*UPDATE Kanye West was reportedly hospitalized on Monday November 21st and is under observation.
On November 17th Kanye took to the stage to declare his admiration of Donald Trump. Between the trademark Ye rants and alleged anti mexican raps, the audience started booing.
“I would’ve voted for Trump” – @kanyewest pic.twitter.com/XtyUteCgUZ
— albertoreyes (@albertoreyes) November 18, 2016
Immediately after Adidas announced 3 colorways of the Yeezy V2 to be imminently released. It was only two days later in Sacramento when Kanye trashed Jay-Z, Beyonce, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before storming out in a fit leaving concertgoers with 90 minutes of waiting, 10 minutes of music and 15 minutes of ranting and raving.
We posted a poll to see if Yeezy fans were put off at all by his latest rants where nearly 1 out of 5 had said they’re done with Kanye and the Yeezy brand.
Did kanye West’s anti-mexican pro-Trump rants change how you feel about him or the Adidas/Yeezy brand?
— Cop These Kicks (@CopThese) November 21, 2016
Now Kanye has canceled the remaining 22 tour dates which has cost the rapper more than $27 million dollars. This immediately after he reminded us that he was recently $52 million in the hole while still pleading with Facebook CEO to call him.
So the question becomes, can the Yeezy brand survive the alienation of thousands of ticket holders and unhinged political rants at a time when emotions run high on the subject? Recently New Balance received a huge backlash for aligning with President Elect Trump. While Adidas has yet to issue a statement (besides a perceived rushed release of the Yeezy colorways) Kanye is in a different place than New Balance. Yeezy fans are used to over a decade of odd behavior and unsubstantiated rants on stage. One of the more infamous being “Everyone who wants Yeezys will get Yeezys” leading up to his collaboration with Adidas. There’s also the heart of the Yeezy culture, resale. Sales of Yeezy kicks are driven by hype and exclusivity, not style or brand values.
@SoleCollector @newbalance good to know. I made a little bonfire tonight 🙂 pic.twitter.com/yOdCTbQgac
— skreetware (@milftears) November 10, 2016
Undoubtedly the Yeezy brand can take more abuse since their audience is almost immune to abuse. The amount of shenanigans behind getting a pair of his sneakers alone was enough to turn us off Yeezys, but people still lie cheat and steal to get their hands on Kanye’s kicks. The question has become, how much more will they take?
Will the fans simply chalk it up to typical Ye? Some will, but be careful what you wish for Kanye. You can’t scream “F*ck winning. F*ck looking cool. F*ck being cool. F*ck all that, bruh!” then turn around and ask us to pay $250 for a plain H&M style Camo T-Shirt or $75 for a cheap Gildan shirt just because your name is on it.