The company that owns conservative social media app Parler said it and Kanye West have “mutually agreed” to terminate his acquisition deal. The news comes on the heels of the disgraced musician telling conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on far right news show InfoWars that he liked Hitler.
West, who has been accused of being anti-Semitic and anti-Black, is not going to be the new owner of a conservative Twitter wannabe company, Parlement Technologies, The Washington Post reported.
West announced in October that he was buying Parler for an undisclosed amount. This announcement came after the controversial rapper made a series of anti-Semitic comments that cost him his partnerships with Adidas, among others.
Deal is a No-Go
But this possible pairing never happened as the company backed away from West, who has continued to double down on his remarks about Jewish people, even praising Hitler in the now-infamous InfoWars interview on Dec. 1
Parler‘s parent company parted ways with West in the midst of his epic meltdowns, saying the fallout deal “was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November.”
A source told Axios that Ye’s “precarious” financial situation — he has dropped from billionaire status to a net worth of $400 million — played a role in the end of the deal.
A Parlement spokeswoman told WaPo the deal’s termination was “mainly due to his recent and well-publicized business difficulties,” and the company will “continue to pursue future opportunities for growth and the evolution of the platform for our vibrant community.”
About Parler
Launched in 2018, Parler is an alternative social network popular with conservatives. Its extreme right-wing views have seen it deplatformed by Apple, Google and Amazon.
Parler bills itself as “unbiased social media” and a place where people can “speak freely and express yourself openly without fear of being ‘deplatformed’ for your views,” according to its website and App Store description.
Founded by Rebekah Mercer, John Matze, and Jared Thomson, the platform has attracted conservative politicians and media personalities, such as Fox News host Sean Hannity, far-right activist Laura Loomer, Sen. Ted Cruz and former Rep. Devin Nunes.
Conservative political donor Rebekah Mercer helped fund Parler “to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy,” she said in a statement in November.
Mercer is the daughter of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, co-founder of the now-defunct political data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica.
George Farmer, the husband of Black conservative podcaster Candace Owens, is Parler’s chief executive. Owens is a staunch defender of West, and appeared with the rapper at a Paris fashion show earlier this year where both wore “White Lives Matter” tee shirts. Farmer replaced Parler co-founder John Matze, a tech entrepreneur, who said he was fired as CEO in February 2021.
