Entertainment

Kanye West’s Website Goes Down After Nazi T-shirt Sales

Published

7 months ago

February 13, 2025

The website of Kanye West’s Yeezy fashion brand was offline Tuesday after it began selling plain white T-shirts with a swastika.

The site displayed the message “Something went wrong” and “This store is unavailable.”

West, who now calls himself Ye, appeared in a commercial for the site that aired in Southern California during the Super Bowl.

In the low-budget ad, the rapper was sitting in what appeared to be a dentist’s chair, flashing a set of diamond-encrusted dentures, and saying he had spent all the money for the commercial on the new teeth.

He told viewers he had filmed the ad on an iPhone and directed them to visit his yeezy.com website.

Immediately after the ad aired, Variety reported, the website had a range of West’s fashionware available, but it changed a short time later and began displaying only a single item — a white T-shirt with a large black swastika on the front, with a $20 price tag.

Variety, citing people familiar with the ad booking process, said the 30-second spot had gone through the usual approval channels, which included a look at the website. Nothing objectionable was flagged.

But by Tuesday the site, which was underpinned by e-commerce firm Shopify, was offline.

“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify,” Shopify said in a statement.

The fresh controversy came just days after West’s account on X — the platform formerly known as Twitter — went dark in the wake of a days-long rant that included vitriolic, anti-Semitic outbursts.

It was not immediately clear if the artist and entrepreneur, who has spoken openly about struggles with bipolar disorder, had deactivated the account himself or if X took it down.

“I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” he wrote in his final post, referring to the owner of X, Elon Musk.

It is a familiar pattern for Ye, 47, who is now in the headlines as often for his provocative, often hate-filled rants as he is for his music.

The rapper has been locked out of social media platforms in the past, notably when he was banned from X for nearly eight months for violating rules barring incitement to violence.

Ye’s most recent missives included comments in support of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is imprisoned on sex trafficking charges. He repeatedly referred to himself as a “Nazi.”

He also referred to the stunt he pulled at the Grammys last week with wife Bianca Censori, who appeared virtually nude on the red carpet ahead of the awards gala.

On Tuesday, a Jewish former employee of West’s filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging he had told her he was a “Nazi” and compared himself to Adolf Hitler, the Los Angeles Times reported.

AFP

Entertainment

200-level Student Wins Car As MTN Thrills UNIBEN With Campus Invasion

Published

13 hours ago

September 14, 2025

Editor

Edomwonyi Osariemen, a 200-level student of the Faculty of Engineering, won a brand-new 2025 Alsvin Mikano car as MTN Go MAD Campus Invasion hit the University of Benin (UNIBEN). He was one of the hundreds of students who participated in a raffle draw. Other students also won laptops, MTN Mifi, and airtime worth thousands of naira.

The event which was held between September 11 and 13, transformed the school into a hub of entertainment and innovation. In the three days, students explored interactive booths and engaged in workshops designed to empower their skills and ideas, while participating in dance and game shows that kept the audience enraptured.

“I still can’t believe this happened to me. While I participated in the raffle draw, I only came to enjoy the event with my friends, and now I’m leaving with a brand-new car This has changed everything for me,” he said with excitement.

One of the participants, Daniel, said: “I didn’t win the car, but I won a laptop, and it means a lot. Even beyond the prices, this event gave us confidence to showcase our talents and connect with opportunities.”

Speaking, Oluwafemi Adesina, Youth Segment Manager, MTN Nigeria said the Campus Invasion in UNIBEN was the third location for MTN’s highly anticipated university tour this year.

He said: MTN is a youthful brand, and of the strategic pillars toward the Nigerian youth is empowerment and entertainment — these are the pillars that we use to connect emotionally with the Nigerian youths.

“Like I said, we believe so much in empowering young Nigerians, so one of the things we have done differently this year is to make sure that we create an opportunity like this for students. Knowing well that school is an educational institution, students don’t usually see entertainment as something they need to reckon with. So, MTN steps in to bring entertainment as well as empowerment. Employment in the sense that we are aware that young people now have small businesses they do, so we give five to seven students who are into such small businesses the opportunity to showcase their products and services. In trade fare they pay for space, but in our event like this we give such space free of charge.”

He added: “With over a million young students reached over the course of three days, with a wide range of activities – booths for student entrepreneurs, game booths, and many more – the series has become one of the most-talked-about campus events across the country. Plans are underway for the University of Kano as the next stop for the Campus Invasion.”

Entertainment

Drama As Hilda Baci’s Jollof Pot Falls After GWR Attempt

Published

2 days ago

September 13, 2025

Editor

It was a shocking sight at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, on Friday night as the giant pot used by celebrity chef Hilda Baci to set a Guinness World Record for the largest serving of Nigerian jollof rice suddenly collapsed after the crane meant to weigh it malfunctioned.

Thousands of people who had waited patiently to feast on the record-breaking rice gasped as the massive structure gave way, bringing a dramatic night to an unforgettable conclusion.

The collapse, however, did not dampen the celebration. Guests had already been served, and many continued eating and cheering late into the night, turning the mishap into another chapter of a historic occasion.

For Hilda, it was still mission accomplished: a brand-new Guinness World Record for cooking the world’s largest pot of Nigerian jollof rice.

The atmosphere throughout the event had been electrifying. Hilda, known for her 2023 Cook-a-thon fame, thrilled over 20,000 fans, food lovers, celebrities, and influencers who packed into the venue for the first-of-its-kind attempt.

Before firing up the stove, she rolled up her sleeves to personally wash the massive red pot, joking with her fans: “Yes, I can officially confirm this pot is squeaky clean! I washed it myself.”

She told journalists that the process was carefully calculated to preserve the dish’s authenticity.

“To keep the authenticity of the jollof rice, I applied some mathematics, and we will still watch it while it is cooking to make sure that everything is right,” she explained.

Moments before the cooking began, Hilda held a short but emotional prayer session with the lead pastor of the Harvesters Church, Bolaji Idowu, setting a solemn tone before the fiery cook-out began.

As the rice simmered, the crowd swelled, with guests beaming in excitement for a taste of the steaming dish.

Notable personalities such as Veekee James, Tomike Adeoye, and Enioluwa joined the celebration, cheering her on. Even Guinness World Records itself showed support, dropping a goodwill message on her Instagram page as the cooking unfolded.

Speaking after the feat, Hilda disclosed that it took nine months of preparation and revealed that the pot, which eventually collapsed, was specially built over two months to handle the enormous task.

She explained that she had originally planned to cook 250 bags of rice, but scaled down to 200 bags, about 4,000 kilograms, due to weighing challenges.

The ingredients also included staggering amounts of tomato paste, onions, oil, and spices, all supplied by food sponsor Gino.

Despite the shocking end, the attempt has already been hailed as one of the boldest food events ever staged in Nigeria.

From the prayers to the pot collapse, from the suspense of the weighing to the feast that followed, Hilda Baci once again proved her knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

For Lagosians who stayed all night, it was not just about jollof rice but about being part of history and going home with full stomachs and a story they would never forget.

Entertainment

Why I Cooked 200 Bags Of Rice Instead If 250 — Hilda Baci

Published

2 days ago

September 13, 2025

Editor

Nigerian sensational celebrity chef, Hilda Baci, has revealed why she decided to cook 200 bags of rice instead of the initially planned 250 bags for her Guinness World Record attempt for the largest serving of Nigerian-style Jollof rice.

In a statement, Baci said the decision to scale down the rice quantity was due to technical reasons related to the measuring crane and scale designed to weigh the final dish.

The custom-made pot’s weight, combined with the rice, would exceed the 20,000-kilogram limit of the measuring device.

“If you notice when we started, we weighed the pot and we needed to weigh every single thing that goes into the pot when we’re done.

“The average crane and the measuring device can only weigh 20,000 kilogrammes. It’s safer for me to go below 20,000 kilogrammes so that my scale can carry it all at the same time,” Baci explained.

Despite reducing the quantity, Baci emphasized that the 200 bags of rice cooked still amount to 4,000 kilograms, enough to feed 20,000 people.

“This 4,000 kilogrammes of rice is 200 bags of rice and it will still feed 20,000 people, so we’re still up there,” she said.

The event, which drew a large crowd of food lovers, celebrities, and dignitaries, has taken on the feel of a carnival with music, dancing, and appearances from public figures.

Baci described the feat as the most ambitious of her career, noting that it took almost a year of planning to pull off.

“Honestly, Gino and I figured this whole thing out was hectic. Figuring out how to fabricate the pots, it took Mr Ayo two months to figure out and fabricate the pots. Then it took us about nine months to plan this event and it took us almost nine hours to make the entire meal,” she revealed.

Guinness World Record, the London-based record body, posted a message of encouragement on social media, wishing Baci “best of luck” in her attempt.

The recognition comes just two years after Guinness certified Baci’s 2023 cook-a-thon, which brought her global fame and inspired many young Nigerians to explore the culinary industry.