Kanye West Returns to Instagram to Declare He Lost ‘$2 Billion in One Day’
Kanye West returned to Instagram Thursday after an eventful and career-ruining three weeks to proclaim that he lost “2 billion dollars in one day.”
After scrubbing his Instagram page of almost all the posts that preceded his restriction from the platform earlier this month — only a photo of his mother, Donda, uploaded three weeks ago, remains — West shared two new posts.
In the first, West screen-grabbed a fake news story, “Ye Has Reportedly Cut Ties With Kanye West,” a comment on how West’s business relations have been severed in lieu of his antisemitic rants as well as how the rapper’s own demeanor has changed significantly since self-adopting the “Ye” name. “Had to cut ties bro,” West captioned.
He then posted a note to Ari Emanual, the Hollywood talent agency bigwig who previously called on companies doing business with West to end their relationship with the rapper.
“Those who continue to do business with West are giving his misguided hate an audience. There should be no tolerance anywhere for West’s anti-Semitism,” Emanuel wrote in a Financial Times op-ed. “This is a moment in history where the stakes are high and being open about our values, and living them, is essential. Silence and inaction are not an option.”
After Forbes reported West’s descent from the billionaire status, he seemingly wrote in response Thursday, “I lost 2 billion dollars in one day and I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am.” He captioned the post, “Love Speech.”
West was previously barred from Instagram after posting a text exchange where he claimed Diddy was controlled by Jewish people. After having his Instagram account restricted, West turned to Twitter to declare that he was going “Death Con 3 on Jewish People,” which promptly got him indefinitely booted from that social media platform as well.
Instagram’s parent company Meta did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment regarding West’s return to the platform.
West’s deal with Adidas was worth a reported $1.5 billion; after terminating the partnership, West’s estimated worth plummeted to $400 million — and is likely diminishing by the day. Adidas followed the likes of CAA, Vogue, Balenciaga, and other companies to distance themselves from the rapper. West’s unsolicited overture to Sketchers was also met with an escort out of the building, and his budding sports agency lost its lone two high-profile clients.