Kanye West hired alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos to work on his presidential campaign upon announcing his 2024 run in November, and allegedly shelled out tens of thousands to him in that short time.
According to FEC filings obtained and viewed by TMZ on Monday (January 30), Ye paid Yiannopoulos $40,000 for “Campaign Wrap Up Services” just before Christmas. A separate $9,955 was paid to him by the campaign in November for what they list as “Domain Transfer.”
The FEC docs also show that Ye’s campaign reimbursed white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes $14,719.87 for travel costs. Fuentes was also working on the campaign and was spotted alongside Ye throughout his controversial media run in the fall – which included praising Hitler on Alex Jones’ Infowars podcast.
Yiannopoulos was fired from the campaign shortly after the Infowars episode, and allegedly told Daily Beast journalist Will Sommer over email that there was a “mutual conclusion that I should step away.”
The blow-back from praising Hitler and spewing other antisemitic statements was major, with peers and former collaborators among the likes of Jamie Foxx, Mike Dean and Questlove speaking out against Kanye, and many brands including adidas, Balenciaga and his talent agency CAA severing their business relationship with him.
After also being banned from both Instagram and Twitter around the same time, Ye maintained such a low profile that he was even being rumored as “missing” – until he popped up earlier this month with a mystery woman that turned out to be his new wife.
According to TMZ, Ye and Yeezy architectural designer Bianca Censori — who’s worked at his company for several years — recently commemorated their love at a private ceremony. The pair have yet to file a marriage certificate to make it legal, however, but it’s apparently official enough to introduce her to his oldest daughter.
As of last week, Kanye West is now a suspect in a police investigation after an incident captured on camera showed him confronting a woman for following him to photograph him.
The incident is one of many where Ye has found himself at odds with paparazzi as of late. The Donda rapper recently shared that a series of encounters with celebrity photographers contributed to his mental decline, leading him to start taking medication.
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