Kanye West’s Donda Academy has been barred from one of the nation’s top high school basketball tournaments over the hip hop legend’s recent statements. Tournament host Scholastic Play By Play Classics (SPBPC) announced that it had severed ties with “Ye’s” school and that the team would not be permitted to compete in future tournaments. Donda Academy — which is named after West’s late mother — is a currently unaccredited private school in Southern California that currently serves roughly 100 students between the ages of kindergarten and grade 12.
“In light of recent antisemitic statements by Kanye West, we will no longer be hosting Donda Academy at this year’s Play-By-Play Classics events, including the Kentucky Play-By-Play Classic,” the organization wrote in a statement. “Kanye’s words and actions violate our values as a company and a country, and what we seek to ensure at all our events — a spirit of diversity, sportsmanship, inclusion, equity, and mutual respect.”
According to SPBPC founder Jeremy Treatman, Donda Academy head coach Dorell Wright told him that he understands the decision to bar his team from competition.
The organization claimed that it was not seeking to punish the student athletes who will be impacted by their ruling. “While we are firm in our reasoning for this decision, it does not diminish our heartache for Donda’s hardworking student-athletes who will lose out the most,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, we cannot in good conscience host an organization founded and directed by Mr. West at our events.”
In response to SPBPC’s decision, the Florida-based City of Palm Classic has offered to host Donda Academy in its tournament brackets, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
“Obviously, the uproar hasn’t sat well with anybody, but at the end of the day, these are really good kids,” said John Naylor, the executive director of the City of Palm Classic.
Naylor did note that the organization was offering to host the team, not Ye. “We aren’t asking Kanye West to be on the floor, we are asking the kids to be on the floor. We invited the team, not Kanye.”
West has lost a number of high-profile endorsements — including deals with Vogue, Def Jam, and Adidas — since recent comments made by him have been deemed “antisemitic.”
In addition to the endorsement losses, Ye has had a number of upcoming stadium shows cancelled and has lost a multi-million-dollar bank account with JP Morgan.
He is also being sued by the mother of one of George Floyd’s children after donating $2 million to Floyd’s children in the aftermath of his death. The cash was supposed to go towards a college fund for Floyd’s children, but it will now be used in an effort to extract more money.
