After a whirlwind month of spewing racism, antisemitism and just straight oddities, Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, announced his intention to buy right-wing extremist “free speech” platform Parler.
Coincidentally, we’re sure, the app’s CEO is George Farmer, who is the husband of Kanye’s new best friend, conservative political pundit Candace Owens.
In announcing the deal yesterday, Parler’s parent company said that Kanye made “a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”
“The proposed acquisition will assure Parler a future role in creating an uncanceable ecosystem where all voices are welcome,” the company wrote in a statement. The deal is expected to close this upcoming quarter. The financial aspects of Kanye’s acquisition of Parler have not been disclosed.
In the past, billionaires and racists could just say whatever they wanted, knowing the class they wished to oppress wouldn’t call them out in fear of retaliation or harm.
These are not those days. With his agreement to buy Parler, Kanye represents yet another conservative billionaire attempting to wield control and influence over social media platforms, using the notion of free speech as a guise to continue fomenting hate speech and ginning up right-wing ideologues.