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Kanye West Is No Longer Buying Parler (axios.com) 94

Parler announced Thursday it reached a mutual agreement with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to terminate the sale of the social media app. Axios reports: The deal already was on life support, as Axios previously reported, and it's unclear if a formal merger agreement was ever signed. Parler originally said it had an agreement "in principle," and today referred to it as "intent of sale." A Parler spokesperson previously told Axios that the acquisition was set to close by year-end but declined to say if Ye ever had signed paperwork to that effect.

In a statement, Parler's parent company said: "This decision was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November. Parler will continue to pursue future opportunities for growth and the evolution of the platform for our vibrant community." A source familiar with the situation said that Ye's precarious financial situation -- including the loss of his Adidas deal -- played a role in the deal collapse.

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Kanye West Is No Longer Buying Parler

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  • by shubus ( 1382007 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @05:48PM (#63095298)
    Good news! Nobody wants that nub job Ye controlling Parler.
    • He talked himself out of a billion dollar shoe deal. The funniest part is Adidas owns all the rights to his designs. They sell his ugly ass shoes and he gets nothing.

      • by shanen ( 462549 )

        Well, four Funny comments is pretty good, but the story deserved more.

        On the substance, my take is that his value was imaginary. He was supposed to be a big brand and some other big brands were willing to pay him well to rub the brands together in hope of sparks. But that loot was still imaginary money and now Ye has burned his own brand to the ground and is busy scattering the ashes.

        And yet, I can still dream. What if he had managed to buy Parler! That would have been such a glorious mess to watch.

    • Honestly I'm OK with it. I mean, how could he possibly make it worse?

      Elon with Twitter now is a bigger problem [npr.org].
      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

        Elon with Twitter now is a bigger problem [npr.org].

        Musk is only a problem if the free market doesn't do the needful and move on from Twitter. It's funny how the same people who are certain cryptocurrency is going to crash down to $0 somehow also simultaneously believe that Twitter is too big to fail. If people agree en masse to move on from something, it's over.

    • Well, probably some people do since he would likely institute a rule day one against dissing Nazis. "We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time." Hopefully I don't get down-modded by those who don't get the reference and are too lazy to Google, but I may get MAGA-modded. Oh well.
      • If Adidas - a German company named after the founder Adolf Dassler - had not terminated their advertising deal already, his newest utterings would have been sufficient. Not to have done so would have outed the company's leadership as Nazis which would presumably have led to Adidas' destruction in very short order.

    • Why buy a corpse unless you are into necrophillia?
  • Ring Ring (Score:5, Funny)

    by dmay34 ( 6770232 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @05:49PM (#63095304)

    Ye:

    Hello.... ELON! Good to hear from you. Yeah, no things are good! Had dinner with Donny. ....Yeah, yeah. -Hey I wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know you just bought a Twitter, so I was thinking but I was thinking about buying a Parler. Yeah, how do you like owning a Twitter? .... uh huh... hmmm... Ah, man that's too bad, it came pretty highly rated by Consumer Reports... uh hum... Well thanks for the advice. Later!

  • Person of color and nazi enthusiast. https://www.rollingstone.com/p... [rollingstone.com]

    • Re:Kanye West (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @06:20PM (#63095388) Homepage

      He's a truly weird dude. I also don't understand why he still has any fans of his "music". As near as I can tell, his rapping ability mostly consists of rhyming the same word with itself (and also frequently "shit" with "it"), and writing about how much of a miserable male Karen he is because everything in life is fake and disappointing.

      I miss the days when people like him had their 15 minutes end and that was the last we'd hear from them until some celebrity trash show did a retrospective on them. Now with the advent of social media, it seems like even artists that should be washed up manage to cling to their status well past its expiration date.

      • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

        by Darinbob ( 1142669 )

        This is a lot like the movie "Network", Everyone wants to make some money off of the crazy guy while ignoring the self destruction that's he's doing.

      • Re:Kanye West (Score:5, Insightful)

        by SvnLyrBrto ( 62138 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @11:18PM (#63095824)

        DOES he actually still have fans of whatever he considers music? So far as I can recall, he's pretty much entirely in the press these days for being the worst kardashian and for being Beyonce's Renfield. I can literally only recall one song of his: Golddigger, and that only because Howard Stern made a vulgar parody of it when West picked a fight with Mike Meyers over something or another a while back.

        Meanwhile, Taylor Swift... their would-be punching bag... whom, after assaulting her, he publicly claimed doesn't deserve the accolades accorded to her; recently captured the entire Billboard to ten and launched a tour that utterly crushed Ticketmaster.

        It's pretty clear to me who *really* has fans of her music.

        • DOES he actually still have fans of whatever he considers music?

          Hard to say, his last tour in 2016 was sold out in most venues. But that was before he went off the deep end. He started ranting and raving half way through the tour and then cancelled the remainder before checking himself into a medical centre.

          Ye was the fifth largest album opening week of 2018.
          Jesus is King got the second highest first week R&B album sales of 2019.
          Donda was the largest album opening week of 2021 outselling Olivia Rodrigo.

          All three albums opened number one in the billboard charts. So

          • Considering the West, Beyonce, and the rest of the Kardashians are the ones who chose to initiate and carry out their decade-plus long campaign of harassment and bullying of Swift (When, by the way, she was still just a teenager.), I'd say she is the perfect artist to compare to any of that benighted pantheon. If they can't take it, they should never have dished it out.

            • Not really. A comparison isn't about a feud between two parties. It's about a comparable standard that makes sense to the argument. The question was whether Kanye is still popular, the first sentence of your post. The premise here is that Kanye isn't as successful as Taylor Swift. True statement. Also completely pointless since *no* artist is as successful as Taylor Swift when judged by the same metric.

              There's a great many other great ways you can use Taylor Swift to embarrass Kanye West, but it doesn't hel

      • Kanye had some incredibly insightful lyrics there for a while. I wonder who helped him write them...

      • by skam240 ( 789197 )

        I don't listen to a ton of rap but one thing I notice with his music relative to a lot of other modern rappers is the backing beats and whatnot are far more interesting and enjoyable to listen to. I've heard a lot of rap played by early twenty something's this last decade whose backing music is just super simplistic and just not at all entertaining to listen to.
        I don't have that problem with the Kanye music I've heard although if I'm going to listen to rap that's fairly modern I'll typically reach for Run t

    • Re:Kanye West (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @08:10PM (#63095610)

      Kanye does have bipolar disorder. He had been treated for it in the past, but it's likely he stopped that. The snag though is that his ego is so huge that it's extremely difficult to empathise with him anymore. He's also got enough money that no one around him is willing to him the necessary advice or even say "no". It's all a bad combination when mixed together into a single person, and so you are going to hear some really bizarre stuff from him. Do you blame the person, or the mental illness?

      Now Alex Jones on the other hand, I don't think he has mental illness, I think he's just a barbaric asshole. And why the hell is Alex Jones interviewing anyone? Is he trying to earn money to pay off his $1 billion judgement? He should be selling off every single on of his company's assets, and his microphones, and the chairs for interviewees to sit on, and sending that money to the good people he spat upon. Maybe Jones does have a mental illness if he's continuing to think that he's the victim.

      • What I haven't figured out is how jones still can do anything. I'd want the lawyers to sieze every microphone, chair, table, preamp, ... the man owns to satisfy the judgement. Then they should repo his car so he has to walk or take mass transit to get around. If ever there was a time for lawyers to absolutely destroy someone, now is the time. Make him homeless.
        • He has to be able to make a loving in order to pay into the judgement. If he can't make money he can't pay.
        • What I haven't figured out is how jones still can do anything. I'd want the lawyers to sieze every microphone, chair, table, preamp, ... the man owns to satisfy the judgement.

          The world doesn't work at that kind of speed. Just because you have a $1bn judgement against you doesn't mean your house gets foreclosed on the day after. He has time to pay. He has time to get overdue notices. An additional legal process is required to force payment. And most critically, such judgements are suspended during an appeal process. Which naturally Alex Jones did.

          It's not dissimilar to Exxon. They tied up their $2bn judgement against them for the Valdez spill for well over a decade in the legal s

          • This is the 2nd judgement I think. I thought there was another one in 2019, so already 3 years and no money. We learned after Exxon, ask BP.
            • We learned after Exxon, ask BP.

              That isn't learning. That is a fuckup, ... by BP. BP admitted fault straight away and lost their legal position as a result. The American legal system did nothing differently here and, BP, even while still leaking oil out of the ground and before Obama went on his "we will make them pay" rant, already setup a fund for compensation. This was a really bad move by them and any attempt to fight anything in court would lead to summary judgement against them. BP admitting fault was also a primary driver that ins

    • Person of color and nazi enthusiast.

      That's what I don't get at all. So he loves Hitler. If he looks in the mirror, and notices the dark skin colour, he should realise what Hitler thought about people like him: They were subhuman. They were not as bad as Jews who were considered parasites (that is active enemies), but they were considered worthless. Probably better to get rid of them sometime, once the Jewish problem is solved. So this is about as stupid as a black man trying to join the KKC.

      • Yes but in some circles of Nazis he will now be welcomed and hailed instead of hated, it's some form of strange psychology where he transcends from being a lower being by accepting that he is a lower being. Or they are just fucking crazy the lot of them. Over here in Sweden we also have a black Nazi, serving a prison sentence since 2000 for murdering two police officers. Was completely embraced by the Nazis and was even welcomed by Ustaa when we went to down to fight for them in the Bosnian war in 1992.
  • by JustNiz ( 692889 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @05:54PM (#63095324)

    He probably never was actually going to. He's one of those celebs for whom it's all about doing literally anything to keep his name in the news.

    • by rudy_wayne ( 414635 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @06:02PM (#63095344)

      He probably never was actually going to. He's one of those celebs for whom it's all about doing literally anything to keep his name in the news.

      He's just rich enough and famous enough that people pay attention to him. But not smart enough to actually do anything that isn't stupid and/or pointless.

      The black version of Donald Trump.

      • by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve ( 949321 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @08:28PM (#63095658)

        He's just rich enough and famous enough that people pay attention to him. But not smart enough to actually do anything that isn't stupid and/or pointless.


        The black version of Donald Trump.

        Actually I'm pretty sure the black version of Donald Trump is Herschel Walker. Think about it. Walker lies about everything, has kids with many different women, pretends to be a Christian to get right wing nut jobs to vote for him, has left a string of failed businesses and bankruptcies behind him yet the number of banks and people who want to keep giving him money is insanely high.

        • Actually I'm pretty sure the black version of Donald Trump is Herschel Walker. Think about it. Walker lies about everything, has kids with many different women, pretends to be a Christian to get right wing nut jobs to vote for him, has left a string of failed businesses and bankruptcies behind him yet the number of banks and people who want to keep giving him money is insanely high.

          You know that doesn't sound too bad. Maybe I should run for office as a Republican.

    • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @06:17PM (#63095376)

      He probably never was actually going to. He's one of those celebs for whom it's all about doing literally anything to keep his name in the news.

      It's like Musk's lie about Apple not allowing Twitter in the Apple Store [imgur.com]. He lied about it, publicly admitted it, and still has to pay 30%. But he got his name in the news.

      • I know there's no such thing as bad publicity but about the only thing that gets you kicked off the app store is letting neo Nazis hang out on your platform. And so now thanks to Musk saying that a lot of people are associating Twitter with neo-nazis.

        Not exactly the association you want if you're trying to get the 2.5 billion a year in advertising revenue you just lost back.
        • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

          "a lot of people are associating Twitter with neo-nazis"

          For certain definitions of nazis of course, since there is a lot of people -- probably the same ones you talk about -- who are so off the deep end they seem to believe everyone who voted for Trump is a nazi.

          Me, I think it's people who say that are those who lead such risk-free lives that they feel a need to see themselves as heroes, singlehandedly warding off hordes of Nazi troops in occuppied France. Where in reality they take no risk for their opinio

          • by SvnLyrBrto ( 62138 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @10:50PM (#63095798)

            Sure, TFG was not a reincarnation of Hitler, but he was definitely America's Berlusconi, bordering on being a wannabe Mussolini. So, when the candidate has so many demonstrable signs of being a fascist [washingtonmonthly.com] what, precisely, do you figure we SHOULD conclude about those who support and enable him in his endeavors?

            • Who is TFG? I hope you don't mean Trump, because people who say he is a "fascist" are just Trump-deranged and it is impossible to have any sort of reasoned discussion with them.

              The key difference I see between the left and the right today, outside of the center, is the left thinks they alone know the truth, which makes disussion impossible. When Paul Krugman says a day after Trump is elected that "stock markets will crash and will never recover" I am certain he genuinely, 100% means it. The problem though i

    • He probably never was actually going to.

      That's probably what Elon thought about Twitter, then he pranked himself into actually having to buy it. :-)

    • Given the fact that he literally just said he likes Nazis and sees "good things about Hitler", I think someone he listens to and cares about in his life needs to intervene at this point.

      His descent in these past few months is not normal by whatever metric you want to use, I wonder if hes actively getting the treatment he needs for his bipolar disorder.

      This is the point at which West needs to get help and fade from public view permanently.

      • As far from what I can tell "last few months" is indicative of his behavior for many, many years. He has always been odd. The line between genius and madness is sometimes very thin.
        • He is bipolar. Badly. I have known one person that might be that bad. They ended up in restraints at UCLA for a month. The problem with bad bipolar is the fix is often flat line. And often that is unacceptable to the patient. So they go off the drugs. And imagine a judge trying to commit ye. Famous people and committing is tough. See also Britney, Byrnes, ... And I'm not sure either of them is nearly as bipolar. I'll not be surprised if he kills himself.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      He was on Infowars just now. Alex Jones said people were calling Ye a Nazi, and he's not really a Nazi, right?

      Ye replied that he likes Hitler and went on to say that while he likes Jews he does also like Nazis.

      I think his run for president is over. I hope it is.

      • by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @07:58PM (#63095592) Homepage

        I think his run for president is over. I hope it is.

        Prior to Trump, I'd have said Mr. West has no chance because independents do not win and neither of our two major parties would have him. But it's obvious lately that crazy is no longer a disqualifier on the Republican side.

        Still, I'd say his chances are pretty low since he'd be up against DeSantis, who is presently very popular among Republicans.

        • Maybe he could be DeSantis' running mate!
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Hopefully the presence of a Hitler loving Nazi in the race doesn't push the discourse further to the right. We get enough of that from Trump and all the commentators who have spent years promoting Nazi ideas but always going just short of praising them directly.

  • by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @05:59PM (#63095336) Journal

    He's going to Anschluss it.

  • Nothing stimulates informs the body politic like the failed business dealings of mentally ill former pop musicians.
  • Filed it under: whatever.
  • wokeness (Score:3, Interesting)

    by satsuke ( 263225 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @07:31PM (#63095540)

    It is interesting to see these conservative or conservative adjacent men scream about being cancelled or how the media hates them

    (as in, very wealthy man with a megaphone and platform complaining about there being repercussions for his actions).

    And yeah, Kanye / Ye / Whatever is bizarre .. like, who's interests are served by random references to white supremacists stuff or hobnobbing with future felons like Trump

  • It's too bad, really (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @07:41PM (#63095546)
    A guy with a really funny short-trimmed mustache going off on the Jews. Can't imagine who that reminds me of. He would have been perfect at the helm of Parler.

    I'm absolutely all-in for free speech. I wish Parler all the best. In fact, I really want some social media platform to establish itself as the go-to spot for election deniers, insurrectionists, neo-nazis, racists (they can be any color, last time I checked) and everyone who likes to keep that sort of company. That way, when I need to hire someone, there's a single spot I can query. If they're on that platform, they're a nightmare waiting to happen, and I can move on to the next resume without a second thought.

    It really would save me quite a bit of time.
  • I admit I hope Trump debates him for a 2024 Republican primary nomination but I doubt it will happen. Maybe also with DeSantis, since he's also a comical fascist, for the Neapolitan shit sundae.

  • Spend lots of money on lawyers until they are both sued into oblivion. The world would be a better place.

  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @10:02PM (#63095752) Journal
    Everyone from Pence to McCarthy to McConnel to Romney to Paul Ryan, all of them are condemning Trump meeting Ye and asking Trump to distance himself and dis-associate him from Ye..

    Isn't this cancel culture? Isn't this being woke? Isn't that what they have been trumpeting for all these years when Democrats were dis associating themselves from people saying vile and repulsive things? No one ever questioned the freedom of speech of people, no matter how repugnant the views were. But freedom from the consequences of saying vile things is not guaranteed by the Constitution. You have the right to speak, and I have the right to walk away, with my wallet. But now all these Republicans are demanding cancel culture and wokeness from Trump.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      who do you think invented cancel culture?

    • I have no idea if this is cancel culture, but Kanye West is so far off that even the most rightwing Republican doesn't want to be associated with him. Besides that, if you take a close look, he is black. And that probably doesn't go down well with many Republicans. Think about it: Would the Republicans have accepted Trump if he had been black, or would they have come up with fake German birth certificates for him?
  • Having that fuckwit basically exclude himself from mainstream social media would be a good thing. Meanwhile I'm sure Parler users would have taken it well that their platform was owned by the embodiment of everything they despised.
  • by sinij ( 911942 ) on Friday December 02, 2022 @09:45AM (#63096430)
    There is no doubt in my mind that Kanye West is mentally ill and is in the middle of psychotic episode due to going off meds. Why is everyone focusing on the delirium as if it is something deliberate or a considered opinion? Are we as society so obsessed with manufacturing outrage that we are willing to exploit mentally ill people to get a fix?
    • There is no doubt in my mind that Kanye West is mentally ill and is in the middle of psychotic episode due to going off meds. Why is everyone focusing on the delirium as if it is something deliberate or a considered opinion? Are we as society so obsessed with manufacturing outrage that we are willing to exploit mentally ill people to get a fix?

      Mental illness is a contributing factor, but most bipolar people who go off their meds don't go full Hitler-lover.

      But the other reason people are piling on is that the right has spent the past couple months trying to turn Ye into a free speech martyr. Tucker Carlson actually edited antisemitic statements out of an interview [vice.com] in order to push that narrative.

      That's what makes this newsworthy. Not so much that Ye is really antisemitic, but that folks like Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones were fully aware of that f

  • That guy needs to be put under conservatorship until the proper medicine for him is found.

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