In a new interview with French outlet Clique TV, Kanye West spoke about how he felt after Virgil Abloh was appointed artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s branch.
“No one knows I’d been offered the deal by Bernard Arnault,” Ye said at the 12:35 mark of the interview. “No one knows the deal was pulled. I used to call myself the ‘Louis Vuitton Don.’”
Kanye mentioned that Bernard’s son, Alexandre, told him that the co-founder of LVMH “never goes back on his word.”
“Three months after that, they dropped the deal,” West shared.
After Ye’s deal fell apart, Louis Vuitton named Virgil the creative director of its men’s line. Kanye admits that Abloh’s appointment made him feel “a lot of pain and jealousy.”
It isn’t the first time Kanye has opened up about how he felt following Virgil securing his role at LV. “There is some validation in the fact that someone that I came up with is now the head at Louis Vuitton,” West told Charlamagne tha God in 2018.
When asked how he found out Virgil had landed the job, Kanye revealed Abloh called him “two minutes before it hit the internet.”
“The breakthrough with Virgil is now we have someone who’s come from DONDA, who’s come from the school of Kanye West… Some people have to do things just to prove that they can be done, whether they become the billionaire on the other side of it,” he said. “Obama went into that office as a public servant in a service position. It didn’t matter the amount of money or ownership; the world needed to see that this is a possibility. For Virgil, it’s like, the world just needs to see things.”
Virgil passed away in November of 2021 following a battle with cancer. He was 41.
Earlier this week, Kanye experienced backlash after wearing a t-shirt with the phrase “White Lives Matter” during his YZY SZN 9 presentation that took place in Paris on Monday. The Chicago artist also doubled down on Tuesday, calling Black Lives Matter a “scam.” He has since been ripped by countless critics, including Diddy, Boosie Badazz, and Jaden Smith, among others.
