Ye said he has “new respect” for ex-wife Kim Kardashian and felt sadness for causing stress in the relationship since Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021.
“This is the mother of my children and I apologize for any stress I have caused even in my frustration as God is calling me to be stronger,” said Ye, the recording artist and entrepreneur formerly known as Kanye West was known, in an exclusive morning interview that aired Thursday on Good Morning America. “I need that person who is less stressed and in the best of health and as calm as possible to be able to raise these kids at the end of the day.”
In a lengthy interview about Donda Academy, a school he founded in California, and his plans to run for president again, Ye repeatedly touched on the responsibilities he has as a celebrity and his insistence that he having a say in the future of the four children he fathered with the global social media and reality TV star.
“As a father and as a Christian. And I have the right to have a voice about what my kids wear, what they see, what they eat,” he said. “I have a platform to say what so many fathers can’t say out loud.”
See more on ABC News Live tonight at 7 p.m. ET and tonight on “Nightline.”“A Conversation with Ye: Linsey Davis Reporting,” a half-hour special on ABC News Live, will air at 8:30 p.m. ET and later stream on Hulu.
relationship with his children
Ye said he “absolutely” wants his children to attend Donda Academy, “a gospel school” he named after Donda West, his late mother, who taught the English, Communications, Media Arts and Theater departments at Chicago State University in Chicago’s South Side. She died in 2007.
“I’m her father. It has to be co-parenting. It’s not just the woman. Men have choices too. Men’s voices are important,” he said.
The private school, which Yeezy says was originally named Yeezy Christian Academy, is located in Simi Valley, California. According to the school’s website, the academy’s mission is to help students “learn fundamentals, grow in their faith, and experience two enrichment classes.”
Ye said the school “gives children practical tools they need in a post-iPhone world.” He said the school is in its third year and has 82 enrolled students.
“So many schools are designed to prepare kids for industries that aren’t even important anymore,” he said, noting that the school’s emphasis is “on practical skills” like engineering, computer programming and farming. He added that the school has tutors who focus on specific areas and “could actually turn your kids into geniuses.”
“And if your kids are geniuses … they’re three grades ahead,” he added.
Ye told ABC News he hired a basketball coach to improve the skills of North, his 9-year-old daughter. He also helps train North “every morning,” he said. The effort, Ye added, has shown dramatic results. “She worked out every day and I really stuck with her. And when she came back, she had the confidence,” he said.
leaving the gap
Ye, who founded fashion brand Yeezy, also addressed the dissolution of his partnership with The Gap. Last week, Ye The Gap sent a letter terminating the 10-year partnership, saying the clothing retailer broke its contract to sell its Yeezy Gap clothing line. Ye said he plans to open his own line of stores called YZY.
Mark Breitbard, president and CEO of the Gap brand, said the company and West are “not aligned” in their working relationship, according to a memo sent to employees and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Put simply … while we share a vision, the way we work together to achieve that vision is not aligned,” Breitbard wrote, according to the Journal.
It was all a sort of disregard for the voice of something I helped create.
In addition to criticizing The Gap, Ye has recently slammed Adidas, a retailer that stocks its clothing. Ye has been working with the sports brand since the partnership was announced in 2016, but lashed out at Adidas when the brand released their Adilette 22 sandals, which resemble Yeezy slides. Ye called her shoes “a fake Yeezy.”
“It was kind of a disregard for the voice of something I helped create. I helped design the product at Adidas. I helped design the product at Gap,” Ye said.
“It means I was there for a specific agenda, not for Yeezy Gap to be everything it could be or for this dream I had about what the Gap could be,” he said. “It’s time for me to do my own thing.”
Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in August West is likely the company’s most important partner, according to the Wall Street Journal. Adidas is trying to find a way to continue the partnership, the newspaper reported.
Ever since his ongoing battle with Adidas, Ye has been determined to learn more about what’s going on behind the scenes at his brand.
“We had to step up,” Ye said. “Really show ’em who the new boss in town is, that I’m the boss of me. I am no longer just the man who rides the polo horse. I’m not just a mascot in the middle of games, getting the crowd saying, “Hey, wear that, do that,” but just learning financial engineering. Learn how to – learn how to really run a business.”
Ye added that he plans to follow up with an October 3 runway show in Paris, originally planned in conjunction with The Gap. He’s landed a new producer for the event, he said via Instagram.
Today, YZY Gap engineered by Balenciaga announced a new line of outerwear and knitwear that will be available online. YZY Gap engineered by Balenciaga also announced that YZY Gap will be available in stores outside the US for the first time at Gap’s flagship stores in Tokyo and Shanghai.
Possibly another presidential nomination
In November 2020, Ye conceded his presidential candidacy. According to a Federal Election Commission disclosure filing, he loaned his 2020 presidential committee $6.8 million, essentially self-funding his campaign for the first month and a half of his tenure.
Ye said he “absolutely” plans to run for president again, but didn’t say when.
“That time was not in God’s time,” he said.
Ye said he’s often misunderstood because of his intransigence for his Christian faith, which drives him to perform “Sunday services” with a gospel choir in various locations across the United States. He said he was a “radical” because he wanted to promote “the idea of family, the idea of God, the idea of protecting your children’s innocence for as long as possible.”
“When you remove the love and fear of God, you open the love and fear of everything else. And it’s easier to have sheep when people don’t have God. It is easier to control people when people are not controlled by God. Because then they can be controlled by how many likes they have or whatever is happening on their TikTok or how much money or the perception that people have,” he said.
“But we have only one audience here, and that audience is God. And He watches us all the time,” Ye said. “He’s got my back.”
abc news
Watch A Conversation with Ye: Linsey Davis Reporting, a half-hour special on ABC News Live at 8:30 p.m. ET and stream later on Hulu.