Parents at Kanye West’s school Donda Academy REVOLT against snap decision to shut its doors

Kanye West’s exclusive Christian school announced it would be reopening its doors on Thursday, just hours after the principal said the school would shutter for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year.

Parents at the Donda Academy received an email near midnight on Wednesday explaining that the school would be ‘returning with a vengeance,’ the following morning, a hard U-turn from a message they received just hours earlier from school administrators.

On Wednesday, Academy Principal Jason Angell sent an email to parents explaining that West, 45, had decided to close the school ‘effective immediately,’ with classes being cancelled as of Thursday.

But an internal email from ‘Parents of Donda’ obtained by TMZ told a much different story.

‘Join us tomorrow morning in worship for the return of Donda Academy,’ the email read. With the help of our parents and community, we are back and returning with a vengeance!’

‘The children of Donda are going to change the world,’ the message added.’ Apologies for the late email! See you bright and early!’

It is unclear whether the school itself is reopening in an official capacity, or whether parents and staff are taking it upon themselves to continue educating their children.  

The bizarre twist comes as West’s empire has continued to crumble around his questionable behavior, which has included repeated claims of ‘Jewish people’ in the media conspiring against him, and planned parenthood controlling black populations through genocidal abortions. 

Kanye West’s exclusive Christian school announced it would be closing for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year as the rapper continues to face fallout for his repeated anti-semitic comments

Students at West’s Donda Academy wear black Balenciaga uniforms designed by West himself

A school in the Simi Valley, just north of Los Angeles, which is believed to be the Donda Academy

West returned to Instagram on Thursday after being banned earlier this month, announcing he lost $2billion in a single day, in an apparent reference to Adidas dropping his Yeezy shoe line

On Thursday the rapper returned to Instagram after being banned earlier this month, posting that he ‘lost 2 billion dollars in one day’ in an apparent reference to the flock of brands which have dropped him in the wake of his bigoted behavior.

This week Adidas dropped his Yeezy shoe line – a deal which was worth $1.5billion – with Gap, Footlocker, TJ Maxx, and Balenciaga all following suit and cutting ties with the rapper.

Donda Academy’s closure and sudden reopening come just two months after it started up in August. The school did not respond to DailyMail.com requests for comment. 

The exclusive pre-K through 12 school – named after West’s mother, Donda – is located in a secret location in the Simi Valley just north of Los Angeles, and charges $15,000 per student.

The school enrolls about 100 students, a number of which are believed to be celebrities’ children, and employees 16 teachers.  Parents sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the school’s location secret and to say nothing about it.

Students wear all black Balenciaga uniforms and Yeezy shoes designed by West himself.

Despite running the school, West’s children do not attend, and he have clashed with Kim Kardashian on the matter.

West previously complained on social media that Kim wouldn’t agree to send their four children for ‘[two] days at one school, three days at another.’ 

As of September the school had not yet been accredited, according to the New York Post, which means colleges might not accept diplomas from the school.

The Donda Academy website states that the school’s goal is ‘to provide the youth with the passion, purpose and spiritual foundations they need to thrive in tomorrow’s world.’

The curriculum has a strong focus on Christianity, the arts, and math and science. Students can take parkour as a physical activity, and the school has a strong high school basketball program. 

The school enrolls about 100 students and 16 teachers, with a number of students being the children of celebrities

The exclusive pre-K through 12 Donda Academy is located in a secret location in the Simi Valley just north of Los Angeles, and charges $15,000 per student

Parents sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the school’s location secret

The curriculum has a strong focus on Christianity, the arts, and math and science. Students can take parkour as a physical activity, and the school has a strong high school basketball program

Angell emailed parents on Wednesday announcing the school’s closure for the remainder of the school year.

‘At the discretion of our founder, Donda Academy will close for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year effective immediately, he wrote.

‘There is no school tomorrow [Thursday].’

Angell noted that the school’s leadership would help parents and students transition into their new school, and added that the Donda would begin ‘afresh’ in September 2023. 

On Wednesday the school’s basketball team was booted from the The Scholastic Play-By-Play Classics tournament, saying West’s ‘words and actions violate our values as a company and a country, and what we seek to ensure at all of our events – a spirit of diversity, sportsmanship, inclusion, equity and mutual respect.’

The school expressed their remorse that West’s words cost his students the experience of participating in the coveted high school basketball tournament. 

‘While we are firm in our reasoning for this decision, it does not diminish our heartache and regret for Donda’s hardworking athletes who will lose out the most as a result of Kanye’s actions,’ the school added. ‘Unfortunately, we cannot in good conscience host an organization founded and directed by Mr. West at our events.’

TJ Maxx has become the latest company to sever ties with Kanye West in the wake of his vile anti-Semitic outbursts (pictured yesterday at a bagel shop in Los Angeles before arriving at the Skechers HQ) 

He was seen near a parking lot before he was escorted out of Sketchers HQ

TJ Maxx, whose CEO is Ernie Herrman (pictured in 2014) follows Gap and Foot Locker in no longer stocking any Yeezy merchandise in its stores 

Yesterday, the rapper was embarrassingly escorted out of Skechers headquarters after showing up unannounced to pitch his Yeezy brand a day after being dropped by Adidas and having his songs banned by Peloton.

Ye was taken out by two ‘executives’ according to a statement released by the company Wednesday afternoon. 

Skechers representatives said in a statement: ‘Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorized filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation. Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West.

‘We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech. The Company would like to again stress that West showed up unannounced and uninvited to Skechers corporate offices.’ 

West may have faced additional opposition if he had gotten a preapproved sit-down meeting with Skechers executives as the CEO Robert Greenberg and current President Michael Greenberg are both Jewish. 

The rapper’s removal from the shoe brand’s office comes mere hours after Adidas announced that it will continue to sell Yeezy products while removing the rapper’s moniker. 

Management said that they will sell the items under their own brand at the beginning of 2023, according to analysts. 

It was feared that stores selling off-price designer goods such as TJ Maxx would receive all the unwanted Yeezy merchandise that other retailers have shunned

A host of high profile brands have dropped Ye in recent days and weeks amid ongoing controversy over his social media posts and rants

Adidas broke off their deal with Ye Tuesday after pressure from fans over the rapper and designer’s recent anti-Semitic comments. 

It ended the lucrative partnership, which included royalty payments and other fees. 

‘I can say anti-Semitic things and Adidas can’t drop me,’ Ye had previously stated. 

Since other similar remarks across social media, including a tweet declaring he would go ‘death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,’ Ye has lost a string of high profile partnerships. 

Footwear retailer Foot Locker said yesterday they would ‘not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites.’

Even auction house Christie’s which was handling the private sale of a rare Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototype worn by West to the 2008 Grammy’s is no longer proceeding with the sale.

The termination of the Adidas deal has knocked Ye out of the billionaire ranks, according to wealth tracker Forbes.  

Ye is now worth a comparatively paltry sum of $400 million, which Forbes estimates comes from real estate, cash, his music catalog, and a 5 percent stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, Skims.

But as corporations around the world break off deals with Ye, music streaming service Spotify said it would not remove the rapper’s music unless his label requested it.

Recent anti-Semitic remarks made by the rapper are ‘just awful comments,’ and would have warranted removal from Spotify for violating its policies if they had been on a podcast or recording, Spotify chief Daniel Ek said.

However, music from the artist now known as Ye does not violate anti-hate policies, and any anti-Semitic comments he has made cannot be found on the music streaming platform.

‘It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy,’ said Ek, adding, ‘It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.’

Universal Music’s Def Jam label, which owns the copyright to West’s recordings from 2002 through 2016, and continued distributing his releases until last year, issued a statement condemning Ye’s remarks, saying: ‘There is no place for anti-Semitism in our society’. But the label has not asked for the removal of Ye’s recordings, many of which are critically acclaimed works.

Kanye West has seen several high profile and lucrative partnerships with major brands severed amid the backlash from anti-Semitic remarks

Ye has refused to walk back his remarks, blaming Jewish people for his mental health struggles in a recent podcast

A pair of Yeezy shoes are seen in a Foot Locker store on the day Adidas terminated its partnership with the American rapper and designer Kanye West, now known as Ye, in Garden City, New York, U.S., October 25, 2022

Questions over whether Spotify would pull Ye’s music come after Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel called for major streaming services to end their business relationships with Ye after the rapper promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in interviews and on social media, where he tweeted that he would go ‘death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.’

Spotify, however, has faced backlash when it punished musicians for their personal misconduct.

The streaming service removed R Kelly’s music from its playlists and recommendations in 2018 following allegations of sexual misconduct. It walked back the policy after other artists threatened boycotts, giving users a mute button to block particular artists, instead.

If Ye’s label asks for the rapper’s catalog to be removed, Ek said, ‘Obviously we’ll respect their wishes.’

Though his music remains on Spotify for now, Ye could lose his billionaire status after being dropped by Adidas.

The rapper’s $220million annual deal with the German sports brand, which is worth $1.5billion in total, was terminated yesterday after his controversial behavior – a decision taken after the deal was placed under review earlier this month following efforts to ‘privately resolve the situation’.

GAP and Kanye ended their partnership in September – but the clothing brand is now actively clearing its stores of Yeezy merchandise.

European fashion house Balenciaga also cut ties with Ye.

The deals were estimated to be worth $970million over 10 years. 

It emerged on Monday that the rapper was dropped by Camille Vasquez, the attorney who defended Johnny Depp in the Amber Heard defamation trial, as well as top talent agency CAA.  

A source for The New York Post claimed: ‘After Ye doubled down [on anti-Semitic comments] this weekend, Camille dropped him. The firm still wanted to make it work but on the condition he retract, he wouldn’t – so he fired them.’ 

CAA had cut ties with Ye at some point in the past month, according to the LA Times, after he made the anti-Semitic remarks. 

Meanwhile, production studio MRC also announced on Monday they are shelving a documentary they made about the 45-year-old rapper.

MRC studio executives Modi Wiczyk, Asif Satchu, and Scott Tenley announced in a memo Monday: ‘We cannot support any content that amplifies his platform.’

Ye earlier this year hit out at several brands with which he was affiliated, accusing them of not fulfilling certain contractual arrangements. 

In now-deleted Instagram posts, the multiple Grammy award-winning artist accused Adidas and U.S. apparel retailer Gap Inc of failing to build contractually promised permanent stores for products from his Yeezy fashion line.

Kanye West attends the Balenciaga Spring 2023 Fashion Show at the New York Stock Exchange on May 22, 2022 in New York City. Balenciaga and GAP are just two of the companies to have terminated lucrative deals with the rapper

 

Ye seemingly doubled down on his anti-Semitic rhetoric earlier this week in a podcast hosted by Lex Fridman, a Russian-American computer scientist who is also Jewish

On Monday, Ye seemingly doubled down on anti-Semitic rhetoric in a two-hour-and-26-minute interview with podcast host Lex Fridman, a Russian-American computer scientist who is also Jewish.

Ye blamed Jewish people for his mental health problems and claimed Jews ‘control the media.’

He told Fridman: ‘We are still in the Holocaust. A Jewish friend of mine said, ”Go visit the Holocaust Museum,” and my response was, let’s visit our Holocaust Museum: Planned Parenthood. 

‘Fifty percent today of … black people’s deaths today is abortion.

‘It’s not racism; that’s too wide of a term. It’s genocide and population control that black people are in today in America, that is promoted by the music and the media that black people make, that Jewish record labels get paid off of.’

Fridman challenged Ye on his claim of Jewish control of media and industry.

‘I grew up in the Soviet Union,’ Fridman said. 

‘I’m Jewish, parts of my family perished in the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, I have to push back. When you say ”Jewish media,” there’s an echo of a pain that people feel.’

The rapper replied: ‘You’re saying it’s redundant, right. If Jewish people would accept that I’m a Jew, they’d hear it in a different way.’

Fridman said: ‘The right thing is not to say there’s Jewish control of the media.’

Ye yelled: ‘That’s incorrect though! That’s a f****** lie. There is. And they did come and bully me and proved the point.’

He claimed his own mental health disorder was the result of a Jewish conspiracy.

‘There was a Jewish trainer that brought me to the hospital, and put in [the] press that I went to the hospital. A Jewish doctor that diagnosed me.’

Fridman replied: ‘Why do you keep saying Jewish?’

Ye said: ‘Because they were. Diagnosed me with bipolar disorder and shot me with medication. Then put it in the press.’

Since his remarks, the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles has been flooded with anti-Semitic abuse.

‘Ye, since we invited you to visit us at Holocaust Museum LA we have received a tremendous amount of social media messages and comments… some filled with hate, threats, and vitriol,’ Museum officials wrote in a tweet. ‘Others were saddled with hurt and yearned for further discourse.

The statement concluded: ‘Ye, you have over 30m Twitter followers (twice as many Twitter followers as the total number of Jews on earth). You and anyone reading this can make a difference, you can choose to join us in building bridges rather than tearing them down.’

The Holocaust museum extended an invite to West earlier this month with a statement that read: ‘Words matter and words have consequences Ye.

‘We urge you to come visit us at Holocaust Museum LA to understand just how words can incite horrific violence and genocides. The Holocaust started with only words that sadly begat stereotypes, racial and religious troupes and blaming others and led to the murder of six million Jews.

‘At Holocaust Museum LA it is out mission to commemorate those who were murdered, educate on the Holocaust and all genocides including the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian People (of which your children would be included), and inspire a more dignified and human world.’

The statement concluded: ‘Your words reach millions and you can choose to incite or you can choose to inspire. We are located at 100 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 090036 and welcome you any time.’