Kanye West news – latest: Rapper allegedly wanted to name 2018 Ye album ‘Hitler’

Quentin Tarantino has addressed Kanye West’s claims that he stole the idea for Django Unchained from him.

The director – who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 2012 film – appeared as a guest on Thursday’s episode (27 October) of Jimmy Kimmel Live, during which he directly spoke about West’s allegations.

West said that he had pitched a slavery-themed story for the video, which never came to fruition.

In part of his response to Kimmel about the accusation, Tarantino had this to say: “I had the idea for Django for a while before I ever met Kanye.”

Annabel Nugent has Tarantino’s full remarks to the late-night host here.

Though it was unclear if he was still locked out of his Twitter account on Friday, Kanye West has been experiencing an onslaught of backlash after he made a series of antisemitic remarks during interviews and on social media.

The rapper, who has been involved in various controversies over the years, has been dropped by both Adidas and Balenciaga over the “hateful and dangerous” comments. A number of fellow celebrities have also condemned his behaviour.

Tracing the latest controversy, The Independent’s Isobel Lewis breaks down where this all began and what has happened since the initial incident at Paris Fashion Week, during which he and right-wing commentator Candace Owens wore “White Lives Matter” t-shirts.

Twitter has not commented on the status of Kanye West‘s account amid unverified reports that he’d regained access after weeks of being locked out for posting antisemitic messages earlier this month.

Rumours that he’d been let back on the site swirled on Friday morning, just hours after Elon Musk successfully took over the social media platform for $44bn, a move that many speculated would lead to previously suspended and locked accounts being made accessible by the self-described free speech absolutist.

It seemed a good omen that on Wednesday night, the 45-year-old rapper had seen Instagram reverse the ban on his account, his preferred platform for posting. He’d previously lost access to posting on both social media platforms earlier this month for sharing separate antisemitic posts that broke with each company’s terms of service.

Speculation about the status of West’s Twitter account began to grow on Friday as some outlets began to report that his account had been unsuspended, which was incorrect as the rapper had only been restricted from posting and using his account.

Catch up on the latest here with The Independent’s full report.

Kanye West returned to Instagram after a ban from the platform and a flurry of brands breaking partnerships with the rapper over the antisemitic remarks he posted earlier this month.

Late Wednesday night, West, who legally changed his name to Ye, posted again on his Instagram. He’d been blocked from doing so for weeks since the social media platform and Twitter locked him out of his accounts for sharing separate antisemitic posts that broke with each company’s terms of service.

In an Instagram story and accompanying post shared on 26 October, West seemed to address the recent fallout with Adidas and Gap, two of the larger commercial partners who have terminated their business relationship with him in recent weeks.

West shared a purported screenshot of a text conversation with “Quinn Emmanuel,” likely referring to the attorneys from Quinn Emanuel and Stradley Ronon who have previously worked for West on his partnership with Gap.

“As to adidas, you can start to make new designs for footwear, apparel and accessories immediately,” the text read. “As to Gap, the non-compete expires December, 15 2022.”

Johanna Chisholm has the details below.

Confusion over the status of Kanye West’s Twitter account – with unverified reports suggesting he may have been reinstated – led to a near equal chorus of celebration (via fans, free speech activists and far-right agitators) and condemnation (via everyone else).

“Elon’s first move on his first day is to bring Kanye West back. Is Twitter‘s new motto ‘making antisemitism great again’?” observed one Twitter user, while another in their camp tweeted: “Twitter: Under New and Anti-Semitic Management.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group of Jewish Federations across Canada, had a more ominous warning about the reports that the previously locked-out rapper might be back on the social media platform.

“We are deeply concerned by this development. If social media platforms are not interested in fighting online antisemitism & racism, government needs to step in with legislation. We cannot continue to allow antisemitism to be given a platform,” the group tweeted.

On the other side of the spectrum, comments were far more enthusiastic about the 45-year-old’s potential return to the microblogging site.

“It’s happening folks! @kanyewest is back on TWITTER!!!” tweeted Lavern Spicer, a Republican who ran for election to the US House to represent Florida’s 24th Congressional District and lost this past summer

Others took his possible return as a positive sign that the former US President, Donald Trump, could also be returning to his once preferred social media platform of choice.

Tweets like, “Waiting for our Trumpooo..” and “please announce Kanye West and Donald Trump as Co CEOs of Twitter !” quickly began circulating as the news broke that the Donda artist was potentially returning to the microblogging site.

Charlamagne tha God, host of the morning radio program The Breakfast Club, is facing heat for recent comments he made about Kanye West on his podcast this week.

On Thursday night’s episode of The Brilliant Idiots, the famed radio personality discussed the rapper with his co-host, Andrew Schulz, and claimed that “he’s moving like a person who doesn’t feel like he’s gonna be here much longer.”

The two hosts had begun by discussing how frequently the 45-year-old artist invokes God, with Shulz first suggesting that it seems to be the only relationship he has these days.

“He need to start really leaning into God, cause nothing he’s doing is of God. Nothing I’ve seen him do is of God,” said Charlamagne in response.

“I hope that this is what helps him to go find some real healing because clearly he’s hurting. Right? And I just — I don’t see this ending well. I feel like he’s moving like a person who doesn’t feel like he’s gonna be here much longer. You know what I mean?” added the radio personality.

Those comments have since drawn intense backlash from online observers.

“That @cthagod talk about Kanye saying he won’t be around any longer is not it. For someone who have advocated for mental health. That’s not something you should wish on someone,” tweeted one observer, while another wrote: “#Charlamagne how can you say such a thing about #Kanye?”

One person online noticed that NBA player Kevin Durant seemed to wade into the matter, commenting on an Instagram post that had shared a clip of Charlamagne’s remarks that, “That’s a nasty convo these men are having.”

ICYMI: Kanye West has returned to Instagram to address the significant decrease in his fortune – according to Forbes, from $2bn to $400m – after Adidas and other brands cut ties with the rapper over his antisemitic remarks.

On Thursday, the rapper returned to his newly reinstated Instagram, which was banned after a series of antisemitic remarks, to reflect on the news that he “lost $2bn in one day” in the fallout over his comments.

In the post, which was addressed to Ari Emmanuel, the CEO of entertainment and media agency Endeavor, and captioned: “Love speech,” West wrote: “Ari Emmanuel. I lost $2bn in one day and I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you.”

Read the full report from Chelsea Ritschel here.

ICYMI: Kanye West has reportedly been dropped by a sixth divorce lawyer in his ongoing divorce proceedings with Kim Kardashian.

West has been dropped by New York divorce attorneys Bernard Clair and Bob Cohen from Cohen Clair Lans Griefer Thorpe and Rottenstreich LLP, according to Page Six.

“The firm is no longer representing Kanye West,” a source told the outlet.

The Independent has contacted West and his former lawyers, Clair and Cohen, for comment.

Meredith Clark has the full report here.

Greenberg Traurig, a Florida based law firm that is currently representing Kanye West in two ongoing cases, said in a statement shared with The Financial Times that it is in the process of severing ties with their celebrity client in the wake of his antisemitic remarks.

“We are taking steps in response to the reported remarks in accordance with ethical obligations and court rules,” the firm said, according to FT. “We condemn anti-Semitism and all hate speech or bigotry, which is repugnant to the core values we believe in and live.”

“This firm was founded by individuals who faced discrimination and many of us lost ancestors because of that kind of hate and prejudice,” the company added in its statement, highlighting how its founders – Larry Hoffman, Mel Greenberg, and Robert Traurig – were all Jewish.

With Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of Twitter officialised, online commentators who are fans of Kanye West began celebrating his possible return to the social media platform after he was locked out for sharing antisemitic posts earlier this month.

“Imagine how good twitter will be when Trump Kanye West Alex Jones Roger Stone and Nick Fuentes are all back on here,” wrote one Twitter user, keenly aware that the company’s new owner has previously declared himself a “free speech absolutist” and has left many speculating whether he would permit online trolls, such as the former US president, back on to the platform.

USA Singers, a group of self-described resistance singers, joined in on the speculation and tweeted jokingly that, “Elon Musk will probably hire Kanye West to be Head of Public Relations for Twitter.”