The Trouble with KanYe | Tonight on BBC2

A brand new BBC Two documentary The Trouble with KanYe has revealed new details about Ye, formally known as Kanye West, and his 2024 Presidential campaign. The documentary hears new first hand accusations of Kanye making antisemitic remarks, from the tech entrepreneur and former friend and business partner, Alex Klein.

The programme airs on BBC Two tonight at 9pm, with an eight-part podcast The Kanye Story dropping as a boxset on BBC Sounds on the same day.

Alex Klein, the tech entrepreneur, former friend and business partner who created Ye West’s Stem Player for his Donda 2 album, has told the BBC’s Mobeen Azhar a never before heard story about when the pair parted ways following Ye’s antisemitic remarks. Discussing the decision to no longer work with Ye and his subsequent reaction, Alex said: “We turned down 10 million dollars. Kanye was very angry you know he was saying ‘I feel like I wanna smack you’ and ‘you’re exactly like the other Jews’ – almost relishing and revelling in how offensive he could be, using these phrases hoping to hurt me.”

Alex continued: “I asked him and I said ‘do you really think Jews are working together to hold you back?’ and he said ‘yes, yes I do but it’s not even a statement that I need to take back because look at all the energy around me right now. Without that statement, I wouldn’t become president.’”

Bafta award-winning presenter and investigative journalist Mobeen Azhar travelled to Cornerstone Christian Church in California where Ye West is known to visit. While there, he met a man living in his car outside the church who said Ye had asked him to be his 2024 Presidential Election Campaign Manager. The homeless man, Mark, said that Ye West regularly visits the Cornerstone Christian Church where the white nationalist Nick Fuentes is known to hold political meetings.

He told Mobeen: “They all said I was the most religiously erudite in the room and Kanye started looking to me for my opinion on every topic that came up. He called me the following Monday, the Monday before Thanksgiving, and the first thing he said to me was ‘I want you to be my Campaign Manager to run for President’.”

Mobeen had decided to visit the California Church after seeing a video of Ye attending it in hopes of somehow making contact with him, but hadn’t realised the extent in which Ye was connected to the property or the people within it.

The Pastor of Cornerstone Christian Church, who didn’t want to be filmed for the documentary, told Mobeen that Ye West had bought part of the property and had ‘big plans’. The Pastor showed Mobeen a room full of workers on sewing machines with mood boards on the wall showing new designs for his Yeezy brand.

Also featured in the documentary is John Boyd who ran Ye West’s 2020 Presidential campaign. John spoke to Mobeen about the chaotic rally in South Carolina in which Ye delivered a rambling address that was live streamed across the world.

The rally made global headlines as Ye West broke down crying whilst speaking about abortion. According to John, Ye was meant to share his vision for the future of America but went off script, and described Ye’s whole address as a ‘train wreck’.

In the eight-part podcast The Kanye Story, to accompany the BBC Two documentary, Mobeen Azhar tells the story of Ye’s life, career and downfall in greater depth. What took Kanye West from hit-maker to a political agitator, spreading anti-Jewish hate? And where does he go next? With the help of a range of guests from critics and commentators who have been closely following Kanye throughout his career, to artistic collaborators who lament Ye’s public outbursts, the series explores the rise and fall of Ye West from an insider’s perspective.

Contributors include artist and close collaborator Malik Yusef, journalist and music critic Dorian Lynskey, wealth reporter for Forbes Magazine Marisa Dellato, artist and mental health advocate Bassey Ikpi and more.

• Watch The Trouble with KanYe on BBC Two at 9pm on Wednesday 28 June or watch back afterwards on BBC iPlayer
• The Kanye Story drops as a boxset on BBC Sounds from 28 June and broadcasts weekly on BBC Radio 1Xtra from 3 July