One of Kanye West’s companies has benefited from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to aid small businesses impacted by the COVID pandemic. Kanye’s clothing and sneaker brand Yeezy received a loan from the federal government’s pandemic rescue fund, according to CBS News.
West, who became a billionaire earlier this year, was granted a government loan between $2 million and $5 million for his brand, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department. The funds helped the company save 106 jobs.
The revelation comes after leading Democrats requested transparency from the government about which companies received these loans. According to
Complex, the Small Business Administration (SBA) revealed the list of companies that had applied for and then received the loans. A spreadsheet of this list has been published online.West dethroned Jay-Z as Forbes’ highest-paid hip-hop act last year due, in large part, to the success of his partnership with sneaker giant, Adidas, He recently
announced a 10-year partnership deal with Gap and released new music with Travis Scott titled “Wash Us In The Blood” in anticipation of a new album called God’s Country. Last week he announced via Twitter that he is running for president in this year’s election, although he hasn’t officially filed any paperwork to legally do so.West donated $2 million to the families of police killing victim George Floyd and Breonna Taylor as well as racial profile victim Ahmaud Arbery. He has also contributed to helping families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by helping Chick-fil-A provide over 300,000 meals for L.A. families.