School of the Art Institute of Chicago Snatches Kanye West Honorary Degree After Hateful Comments

Kanye West has lost his Yeezy deal, Balenciaga collaboration, and now, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is demanding their degree back.

On Thursday, SAIC president Elissa Tenny slammed the “All Falls Down” rap mogul for his recent “disturbing behaviors” and “dangerous statements” that have made it impossible for the school to continue supporting Ye. While many people have been outraged regarding the shocking antisemitic comments made by the Donda school founder, Tenny pointed out the offensive remarks toward Black people as also being a deciding factor in revoking the degree, which was granted to Ye in 2015. 

“The School of the Art Institute of Chicago condemns and repudiates Kanye West’s (now known as Ye) anti-Black, antisemitic, racist, and dangerous statements, particularly those directed at Black and Jewish communities,” she wrote in the statement.

The announcement comes after a SAIC group called Against Hate shared a petition on December 1st pleading with the school to rescind the degree. The Change.org initiative attracted 4,148 signatures, with an original goal of 500. 

West’s downfall began when he had models wearing “White Lives Matter” t-shirts during Paris Fashion Week. He was condemned for the slogan, which has commonly been used amongst white supremacists as pushback against the Black Lives Matter movement. What followed was a string of hateful comments towards Jewish people and, most recently, his expressed love for dictator Adolph Hitler during his appearance on “InfoWars” with Alex Jones and Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes. 

SAIC believes that despite Ye’s past good deeds, his current antics do not align with the school and student values. 

West has not publicly responded to the school’s decision, but given his suspensions from both Twitter and Instagram, we likely won’t hear much about this latest mishap.