Kanye West thinks white lives matter.
J.P.Morgan Chase Bank does not seem to feel the same way about black lives. The banking giant did not seem to take well to Ye’s recent stunt at Paris Fashion Week, and it looks like they’re going to make him pay…literally. Chase did not add any context to their severance letter, but The Daily Wire‘s Candace Owens did get ahold of the letter and posted it to Twitter (she redacted some names to protect the privacy of the other partners in Kanye West’s company).
The letter reads:
Dear Ye[redacted]:
We are sending this letter to confirm our recent discussion with [redacted] that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “Bank”) has decided to end its banking relationship with Yeezy, LLC and its affiliated entities (collectively, “The Company”).
To provide the company with sufficient time to transition to another financial institution, we will continue to maintain the accounts (attached as Exhibit A), including all related products and service, until November 21, 2022.
To avoid any transaction delays, we suggest that you stop processing Company transactions and/or using any products associated with the accounts five business days before the scheduled closure date set forth above. After that date, the Bank will close any open accounts, and after deduction of any permissible service charges and pending transactions, remit all remaining funds in the form of a check delivered to the Company at the address of record.
We ask that you act promptly to transfer your business, to another financial institution. Before. November 21, 2022.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to call your usual banking contact. Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Owens went on to say that while she doesn’t expect people to care about Kanye West’s antics, she does think this is something to pay attention to.
“Earlier today I learned that @kanyewest was officially kicked out of JP Morgan Chase bank. I was told there was no official reason given, but they sent this letter as well to confirm that he has until late November to find another place for the Yeezy empire to bank…
As I gather my thoughts about this, I want to say that I do not care what you think about Ye West– but I very much care what you think about this.”
If this is a decision related to West’s fashion choices and his unfortunate antisemitic rant on Twitter recently, then I quite agree with Owens. This is concerning.
However, The Daily Beast claims to have spoken to someone “close to the situation” who says Chase had made the decision to sever their ties with West well before his infamous “White Lives Matter” shirt or his problematic tweeting.
“A source close to the situation tells The Daily Beast that the letter was sent on Sept. 20, weeks before his anti-Semitic tweet and his fashion show.
The source added that the letter was actually sent in response to West’s interview with CNBC last month, in which he announced his intention to stop banking with JPMorgan while also railing against his corporate partnerships with Gap and Adidas.
“I’m moving my money over from JPMorgan over to Bank of America, possibly, because I go and move $140 million over to JPMorgan and [CEO] Jamie Dimon never calls me,” West said at the time. “I find out Jing Ulrich is one of the heads of the board at Adidas and one of the heads of the board at JPMorgan, and they already treat me a certain way at Adidas. It doesn’t matter how much money you move over there.”
It is true that Kanye West did say those things, and it is also true that investors and business partners don’t typically like to be insulted by the people they’re doing business with. It is also true that the letter Owens posted does not include a date. If the letter was indeed sent in September, that would make a lot more sense than it being sent last week. It is much more believable that a giant corporation like JPMorgan Chase would give a booming business at least two months to move their accounts. One month seems like a tight squeeze.
In my opinion, this is something of West’s own making. It’s bad business to blame your investors for your own failures, and to insult them publicly, especially if you have a platform like Kanye West. I’m not sure we should expect Chase to continue to support a huge client who obviously doesn’t support them. That’s not personal, it’s business.
Owens and West could put an end to the speculation by posting the date of the letter sent. So far, Chase has not officially responded to the report. Even The Daily Beast report admits that none of this is confirmed, and much remains up in the air.
Real or not, Ye is doing what Ye does best and better than anyone in the world, probably…he’s making people talk about him.