Kanye West has agreed to buy Parler, in spirit anyway, according to a statement released by the right-wing platform’s parent company, Parlement Technologies. “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said West.
Commenting on the agreement Monday, Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer said it “Will change the world and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” CNBCreported.
“Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again,” Farmer said in a statement. “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.”
Most widely known as the husband of African American right-wing pundit Candace Owens, Farmer took over as Chief Executive after his predecessor and co-founder – billionaire GOP donor Rebekah Mercer – couldn’t agree on the direction of the platform.
Created in 2018, Parler marketed itself as the premier outlet for “free speech,” amid complaints that conservative voices were being suppressed by Big Tech. The company would learn the difference between free speech and consequence speech, after being dropped from the Google Play and Apple stores after the Capitol attack.
According to NPR, during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, hundreds of videos of the siege were posted to Parler, which in the leadup to the violence had become a gathering place for far-right activists angry over Trump’s election loss.
Parler’s failure to remove violent and hateful posts following the Capitol riots led to Amazon severing the social media site from its web-hosting services, prompting a protracted legal battle and the abrupt firing of its former CEO John Matze.
The Parler app was dropped from the Google Play and Apple stores for violating their terms of service, before being allowed back.
Those vying for a piece of the MAGA pie on social media are running out of space. Sites like GETTR, founded by former Trump adviser Jason Miller, Truth Social, founded by the ex-President himself, Gab – and other Big Tech knockoffs – are squeezing the field.
Putting things into context, Parler has approximately 40,000 active daily users, compared to Twitter’s 237 million.
Kim Kardashian’s estranged ex-husband is reported to have a net worth of nearly $2 billion – most tied to his deal with apparel giant, The Gap. Though financial details of the tentative deal haven’t been disclosed, Parler announced the company has secured $16 billion in additional funding for infrastructure investment and acquisition. Bringing the total to $56 billion.
But everyone isn’t convinced there is any smoke to fuel this impending dumpster fire.
In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host of CNBC’s technology and financial news show, Squawk Box, Andrew Ross Sorkin, found the notion comical.
“Oh, goodness gracious,” he laughed. “Elon Musk is going to own Twitter, Trump will own Truth Social, and Kanye will own Parler.
“Parler, as you know, had sort of fallen off a bit in part because it had been taken as a competitor to Truth Social and to Twitter and everything else,” Sorkin elaborated. “What Ye, as he’s now calling himself, will do with all of this, I do not know. And given all his anti-Semitic screeds and other comments he’s made–he was just out talking about how he thinks that George Floyd was killed by fentanyl or something crazy. I don’t know who’s going to be on this platform, if advertisers will want to back this platform — we will see.”
Some don’t think it’s a coincidence that the announcement to purchase Parler comes after ‘Ye recently appeared with the CEO’s wife at a fashion show for his overpriced Yeezy clothing line. Both were wearing shirts with the phrase “White Lives Matter,” emblazoned on the back.
Unsurprisingly bringing unpopular controversy, this was days before the artist went on an antisemitic media tour, giving an unhinged interview with Fox News host, Tucker Carlson. Whether the deal ever goes through remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – if the former Kanye West is involved, it’s almost guaranteed to end up like his marriage, career, and reputation – in the trash.
