Kanye West Presidential Campaign Paid White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Over $30,000

Newly released Federal Election Commission (FEC) data indicates that white nationalist Nick Fuentes was paid over $30,000 by rapper Kanye West‘s 2020 presidential campaign in January and February of this year.

Fuentes was paid two $10,000 payments for “Archival Services” and was given another $10,300 for “Travel Reimbursement” by the Kanye 2020 campaign.

The rapper, although publicly a Trump supporter at the time, ran for president in 2020 against former President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. His campaign failed to generate much momentum, due to the campaign’s inability to get ballot access in many states and a general lack of enthusiasm.

In October, West tweeted, “I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” beginning a series of antisemitic comments that the rapper would go on to make about his perceived victim status at the hands of Jewish Hollywood elites.

Fuentes, who has spouted similar rhetoric for years in far-right online environments, quickly became associated with West as the two became political allies.

Their friendship became world news last November when the two visited Trump for dinner last November at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump later claimed he did not know who Fuentes was and that the white nationalist would not have been accepted if he had known his views beforehand. Trump claimed he was brought unannounced as a guest by West.

Trump argued that he was merely helping a “troubled” man.

The two then went on the Alex Jones Show, hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, where West infamously said that he loved Adolf Hitler and effectively admitted to being a neo-Nazi. Fuentes encouraged West throughout the podcast, displaying no signs of disapproval.

Jones, the man who theorized for years that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was staged by anti-gun government agents, tried subtly to push back during the interview. He later went on the right-wing talk show Louder with Crowder to distance himself from West and Fuentes, claiming that he hates Hitler and that the two men have a “homoerotic” fascination with the German dictator.

Fuentes and West have not appeared publicly together for months.

It has long been suspected that Fuentes was using West for publicity, but the extent to which he was being financially compensated for joining the rapper on his failed attempt to rally support for a potential 2024 presidential run was unknown until now.

Article by Jakob Mieszkowski-Lapping