Status: 02.12.2022 08:51 a.m
Kanye West will not take over right-wing online network Parler. The operator announced this. The rapper was blocked on Twitter for inciting violence. He had previously posted a swastika image.
In October, US rapper Kanye West, who now calls himself Ye, offered to take over the right-wing social media platform Parler. However, yesterday Parler’s parent company, Parlament Technologies, announced that Ye is not buying the online network. The decision was made by mutual consent “in mid-November”.
Parler will continue to pursue opportunities for growth and further development of the platform, the online network said. In October it was still said that the takeover of the social media platform by Ye would be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. A purchase price was not mentioned at the time.
“Nazi” statements in an interview
The decision was announced immediately after new “Nazi” statements by the discredited fashion entrepreneur and musician. In an interview with the well-known right-wing US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones yesterday, he triggered another wave of outrage with statements such as “I like Hitler” and “I love Nazis”. Ye had made several anti-Semitic comments in the past few weeks.
Parler had established itself in the past, particularly among supporters of former US President Donald Trump. It gained additional popularity among them after Trump was banned from Twitter and other platforms as a result of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Google and Apple had removed Parler from their app stores and accused the online network of not taking action against calls for violence by Trump supporters on the platform. West justified his intention to buy Parler by saying that he wanted to defend “freedom of speech”.
“The account will be blocked”
Ye’s Twitter account was suspended today after the rapper posted a picture with a swastika combined with a Star of David. New Twitter owner Elon Musk confirmed the suspension in a tweet responding to an unflattering photo of the billionaire posted by Ye, which Ye described as his “last tweet.” “I did my best. However, he again violated our policy against incitement to violence. The account will be suspended,” Musk tweeted.
Ye has been criticized for multiple verbal failures. Adidas announced in October that they were ending the previously financially very successful collaboration with the rapper with immediate effect. Ye is said to have lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result. And the French fashion house Balenciaga also ended its collaboration with the rapper in October.