Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has nixed his plan to buy conservative social media platform Parler, the company confirmed Thursday.
“In response to numerous media inquiries, Parlement Technologies would like to confirm that the company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler. This decision was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November.”
The news broke after Ye appeared on Alex Jones’ Infowars show with apparently no grasp of the term “pure evil,” as he spouted multiple remarks about Adolph Hitler, including that the rapper saw “good things” in the Nazi dictator responsible for the extermination of 6 million Jews.
The Parler news also came several months after the artist entered into an agreement in October to purchase “the world’s pioneering uncancelable free speech platform,” after being locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts as a result of posting antisemitic rhetoric in early October.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a statement at the time of the potential acquisition’s announcement.
According to a release from parent company Parlement Technologies acquired by the TheWrap, Ye and the platform intended to enter into a definitive purchase agreement that would close in Q4 of 2022, before the end of the year. Under the agreement, Parlement would provide ongoing technical support and continue using its private cloud services via its private cloud and data center infrastructure.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer said in a statement at the time. “Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again. Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honored to help him achieve his goals.”
Further details about why the sale was terminated are unknown.
Since initially being locked out of his Twitter account in October, Ye has regained access to his account and tweeted regularly, even retweeting a recent post from Twitter boss Elon Musk.
