Kanye West has claimed he was ‘two months away’ from declaring bankruptcy after losing $2billion in one day when Adidas terminated its partnership with Yeezy.
The rapper, 46, lost his billionaire status in 2022 when a number of brands ended his lucrative contracts over his anti-Semitic outbursts and were outraged over his decision to promote White Lives Matter T-shirts at his Paris Fashion Week show.
Kanye said he poured ‘everything I had’ into Sunday’s $7million Super Bowl advert for his fashion brand and his new album, Vultures. ‘I’m just be honest with y’all. I was two months from going bankrupt, and I put everything I had into it [the album and the Super Bowl advert],’ he told TMZ.
Kanye said as his wealth began to plummet, he moved to Italy with his wife Bianca Censori. ‘We moved to Italy. We moved to the factories, and we survived. We survived through the cancellation. We’re back number one,’ he said. On Monday, Kanye shared Yeezy had made $19.3million from the Super Bowl advert and Vultures was number one in 100 countries.
When asked if he felt the controversy ‘helped’ him, Kanye replied: ‘It wasn’t about the controversy. It was about being able to say how you felt out loud. ‘If I didn’t have the various skill sets of music and clothing and the fanbase, they would have been able to destroy me. But because we had all those skill sets, somehow I’m here inside of this universe able to fight.’
Kanye was asked if he regretted his anti-Semitic comments, to which he responded: ‘hey got the right to their opinion – I got the right to my opinion.’ The rapper returned to the spotlight on Sunday night with his bizarre commercial for his fashion brand during the Super Bowl.
During the promo, filmed in the back of a car, Kanye joked his team had splashed so much cash on the Super Bowl 2024 spot – which are said to run to $7 million for 30-seconds – they didn’t have any budget left to produce a commercial.
He said: ‘Hey y’all, this is Ye and this is my commercial … (my team) spent all the money on the commercial spot (so we) actually didn’t spend any money on the actual commercial. ‘But the idea is I want you to go to Yeezy.com. Imma write it at the bottom of the screen … and I got some shoes, and ummmm … that’s it.’
The outlandish rapper was in attendance at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as Kansas City Chiefs triumphed over San Francisco 49ers to claim their third title in five years.
Brands including Dunkin’ Donuts, Mountain Dew, Uber Eats and Oreo spent an average $7million apiece to secure an advertising spot during Sunday evening’s Super Bowl – watched by 114million across the globe.
But while West’s bizarre homemade addition to the TV schedule was at odds with the glossy, big-budget commercials that aired on Sunday, some fans claimed it was a stroke of marketing genius.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one impressed viewer wrote: ‘The genius that is Kanye West. Put a commercial on the Super Bowl that will trend beyond the Super Bowl.’