Kanye West has said that the Internal Revenue Service has locked down $75m in his accounts because he owes $50m in taxes.
West made the revelation during an appearance on the far-right podcast Timcast IRL hosted by Tim Pool.
Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, and alt-right commentator Milo Yiannopolous, also appeared on the podcast alongside West.
West told Mr Pool that his “finance people” told him that he’ll “have to pay a lot of taxes”.
“I’m talking about literally finding out that they were trying to put me in prison this morning,” he added. “But I found out ... they put a $75m hold on four of my accounts.”
“And then they said, ‘you owe a lot of taxes’. Took me like six hours to find out how much ... around $50m,” West said.
He admitted that he was “obviously not the most financially literate person on the planet,” adding that he spoke to “different CFOs” within his business to understand if not paying the funds would amount to tax evasion.
“So now ... I get to actually learn how to run a company. I get to learn how ... to count, really,” Ye said on the podcast. “It’s like I didn’t even know where to put the money.”
West left the interview after Mr Pool questioned yet another of his anti-Semitic comments.
Before leaving the studio, West said he was making an attempt to purchase his own bank and asked aloud if it would be possible for him to campaign for president from jail.
While he hasn’t filed any paperwork yet, West said earlier this month that he was running for president again in 2024 after running in 2020.
The rapper also said that God is “breaking him down” by “removing” his assets but noted that his children will be okay because his “baby mama” – Kim Kardashian – is wealthy.
YeWestwent on several anti-Semitic tirades last month, prompting brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas to cut their connections to the artist.
The rapper’s net worth has recently been cut from $1.5bn to $400m, according to Insider.
The artist claimed this month that Adidas is filing a lawsuit against him for $275m after West said his ties to the company had been cut on 25 October.
Mr Pool said on the podcast that before the interview began, West asked him “hey man, how do I become president, how do you win?”
“Ballot harvesting,” Mr Pool replied, according to Ken Bensinger of The New York Times.
WEst said he would attempt that with Black voters.
“I do think that he would do better with the Black vote,” Mr Pool said.
After WEst, Mr Fuentes and Mr Yiannopolous left the studio, a producer entered the set, telling Mr Pool that West felt “as though he should have been able to keep talking – he feels not enough people are able to express this view and cutting him off was not a good idea”.
“Milo felt that you were obstinately not getting the point that everybody in the room was getting,” a second producer added.
According to Mr Bensinger, it seems that West left when questioned by Mr Pool about who he was speaking about when saying “they”. Mr Pool said he was speaking about the corporate media while Ye didn’t.
West mentioned the media during the interview and then said that “when I found that they tried to put me in jail it was like a dog was biting my arm, and I almost shed a tear, almost. But I still walked in stride through it”.
“I think they’ve been extremely unfair to you,” Mr Pool replied.
“Who is they though? We can’t say who they is, can we?” West asked.
“Corporate press. I’m not using the word in the way I guess as you guys use,” Mr Pool said.
“It is them though, isn’t it?” Mr Fuentes asked.
“No,” Mr Pool said.
“Upon further review, Ye, Milo, and Nick walked off the set because Tim Pool refused to admit that Jews control the corporate media and that the term ‘they’ refers to Jews,” Mr Bensinger tweeted on Monday night.
“The way they all walked out together in synchronization ... gives me the distinct impression that Milo and Fuentes are on Ye’s payroll or otherwise work for him — as opposed to being his friends or whatever,” he added.
