It's rare that there's ever "good" news to report about Kanye "Ye" West but the deeply troubled rapper has at least provided some levity by way of his weird outfits and his wife's even weirder outfits. But the latest wrinkle in the Ye saga involves a man who's possibly even worse than Ye himself.
Ye, who's been hiring employees for his YEEZY company from Craigslist ads and refusing to wear shoes (or even normal socks, really), has reportedly tapped Dov Charney as the new YEEZY CEO.
Though this hasn't been publicly announced, the rumor gained some serious credibility when a bearded Charney and masked Ye — still in his Sand Socks — were spotted together in Japan, apparently shopping at one of the many Don Quixote markets for food as part of a YEEZY tasting event.
Charney's alleged YEEZY hiring was initially reported in early June by The US Sun, though the typically salacious outlet offered nothing of substance to back up the assertations besides an anonymous source.
"[Hiring Charney] is definitely a risky move with the allegations against him but Ye supports him and knows what it's like to be canceled," the source told The US Sun. "Dov has been a friend, a fabric supplier, he's also produced T-shirts as well as mass production of the new YEEZY line, which was unveiled recently at a low-key event."
The low-key YEEZY event in question is the YEEZY SEASON 10 presentation, quietly debuted at what's reportedly became the Los Angeles YEEZY HQ in early May.
Charney's presumed contribution is the skin-tight white T-shirt that was gifted to attendees. Charney also produced the shocking "WHITE LIVES MATTER" T-shirts that Ye wore at his YEEZY SEASON 9 fashion show.
After receiving some justified backlash, Charney decided against releasing the shirts and Ye instead gave the "WHITE LIVES MATTER" tops out to unhoused people throughout LA, which sounds more harmful than helpful.
Prior to this YEEZY business, Dov Charney was best-known as the founder of American Apparel and Los Angeles Apparel (two different companies) and made a fortune by selling affordable staple clothing produced in LA.
Beside the price, American Apparel's two big selling points were racy advertisements and its purportedly ethical manufacturing process, which was later dispelled by investigators.
However, after years of stunning success, American Apparel's true downfall came in 2014, when then-CEO Dov Charney was suspended for a litany of charges ranging from misappropriation of company funds to "using ethnic slurs against workers and keeping videos on a company server of himself in sex acts with models and employees," according to a court filing.
After being given the boot by American Apparel, Charney almost immediately launched the likeminded Los Angeles Apparel, which he oversees to this day.
Charny was never found guilty of sexual harassment in court but he doesn't deny sleeping with plenty of young female employees (one of Charney's former colleagues gives an example of Charney, then 45, sleeping with 19-year-old sales associates).
"I’m not going to be a victim of sex-shame tactics," Charney said in a 2017 interview where he also describes physical relationships with co-workers as "unavoidable."
Frankly, Dov Charney makes sense as CEO of YEEZY, or "YZY" as Ye's company is apparently being called now.
Ye seems particularly desperate for friends, for one. Besides his weird birthday party, Ye has only been seen socializing with scant few peers, including secret wife Bianca Censori, 424 founder Guillermo Andrade, artist James Turrell and, uh, Fabolous — remember Fabolous? — who met Ye at upscale diner e. Baldi on June 16.
Charney also has nearly as much cultural baggage as Ye himself and, arguably, Charney is slightly less vile than Ye's white nationalist pals. In terms of backlash alone, they've got nothing to lose from working together.
Despite the myriad logical reasons to dislike Charney, though, you'd think that Ye may still have an issue with Charney being Jewish, given Ye's well-documented anti-Semitic outbursts.
Perhaps Ye's in a place where he needs well-connected companions enough that his bigotry has been sidelined. Charney certainly is connected, as far as clothing manufacturing is involved.
Still, if Charney's appointment is a taste of YEEZY's future, it's not particularly appetizing.
