Kanye West Claps Back At Forbes For Putting Him On The Billionaires List
One would think Kanye West would be thrilled about making Forbes billionaires list for the first time. Turns out, the eccentric rapper/designer is taking issue with the way the magazine has counted his fortune.
According to senior editor Zack O’Malley Greenburg, West estimates his bag at triple the amount Forbes gave him credit for. According to Greenburg, after the list was published, Yeezy texted the magazine's staffers saying, “It’s not a billion. It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
In fact, it was one of Kanye's infamous tantrums that got him on the list in the first place. After his sister-in-law Kylie Jenner made the list, and was crowned the world's youngest "self-made" billionaire, West submitted paperwork on his own financials and demanded that Forbes give them a hard look.
According to Page Six, during an appearance at the 2019 Fast Company Innovation Festival, West stated that he should have been listed as a billionaire on Forbes’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list. He told the crowd, “When I did Forbes, I showed them a $890 million receipt and they still didn’t say ‘billionaire.'”
The Chicago native even accused the publication of being “a part of a group of media” attempting to “suppress his self-made narrative because of his race.”
This week, Team West submitted paperwork backing up Kanye's claim that he's worth $3.3 billion, but Forbes stands firm on its math — which they say is based on West's good friend Donald Trump.
“For years, Forbes had an informal ‘Trump rule’ — take whatever the [then] future president insisted he was worth, divide by three, and start honing from there,” Greenberg wrote. “Like mentor, like mentee.”