Kim Kardashian West defends husband in fight over renaming of Chicago nonprofit
Donda's House, named after Kanye West's mother, announced it was being renamed.
Kim Kardashian West came to the defense of her husband, Kanye West, on Sunday -- a day after the charity named after his late mother announced it was dropping her name.
Donda's House, a nonprofit run out of Kanye's native Chicago, announced it would be dropping his mother's name due to a lack of funding from the rapper and the angry response from Kardashian on Saturday.
"Due to recent events that have occurred over the last 48 hours, we have decided to no longer use the name Donda's House Inc.," according to a statement released by the nonprofit. "This has been an incredibly difficult decision but the social media quotes from Kim Kardashian West, as well as the expressed interest of her family running the organization has brought us to this decision."
The statement encouraged "Kim and Kanye to indeed pick up the baton of service."
"We will reach out to all partners in the coming weeks regarding next steps," the statement concluded.
The whole controversy began on Saturday when Che Smith, a rapper known as Rhymefest, tweeted at Drake, asking him to come to the aid of Donda's House because Smith said Kanye was no longer providing support. Smith partnered with Kanye to start Donda's House in 2013 to mentor young musicians from Chicago.
Smith tweeted Saturday, "I’m asking @Drake to help the part of Chicago Kanye has Abandoned! Please contact @DondasHouse." Drake released a track criticizing Kanye last week.
On Saturday, Kardashian criticized Smith, saying on Twitter he "hasn't been right" and that he'd been trying to get Kanye to "listen to his sub par beats."
She also said she would "make it my mission" to take the nonprofit away from Smith and let her children run it.
Kardashian's response a day later was much less inflammatory.
"After several years of lack of performance from the organization and Kanye going through personal financial issues, he could no longer fund salaries," she wrote Sunday on Twitter. "Rhymefest asked to take it over and Kanye agreed with no financial strings attached.
"Kanye gave his 'friend' an opportunity to run an organization on his own. So now that Kanye is being publicly shamed for not being involved makes no sense and, at this exact time, just seems very calculated."
She also added, "I will always ride for my man!"
As of Monday, the nonprofit's website still reverentially discusses Donda, saying, "Long before the rest of the world could pronounce the name of her now iconic son, Kanye West, Dr. Donda West set up a recording studio in her home. She nurtured, supported and encouraged a generation of young artists, who to this day, are brought to tears by the impact she had on their lives. Our Creative Director and Che 'Rhymefest' Smith, was one of those artists!
"We honor her legacy by providing a similar familial and safe environment for young creatives, who are imagining a better future for themselves, their families, their communities and our world," the nonprofit's site outlines as its mission.
Kanye West has spent the better part of the last month jumping from controversy to controversy. He received widespread criticism for his rambling support of Donald Trump in a flurry of tweets over the final weekend in April. He then made controversial comments about slavery in the U.S., saying in a TMZ interview, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice."
His latest controversy happened just days ago when it came out that West had paid $85,000 for a photo of Whitney Houston's bathroom after her death, with apparent drug paraphernalia visible, for the cover of Pusha T's latest album, produced by West.