Kanye West, who has lately been spotted wearing T-shirts decorated with swastika and labeled his upcoming music as anti-Semitic, recently announced the return of his Sunday Service sessions. But it seems he will have to look for a new church. It recently came to light, according to a March 10 report in the US Sun, that an L.A. church the rapper purchased for $1.5 million in 2023 burned to the ground in October 2024. Authorities suspected arson at the time, though no suspects have been identified.
What Happened to the Church
The single-story building, located in LA’s San Fernando Valley, was purchased from the Cornerstone Christian Church, where West had reportedly developed a friendship with former pastor Ronald Nagin. Initially, West intended to use the property to expand his Donda Academy, a private Christian school. However, the academy abruptly closed in 2022 following several lawsuits from former teachers about work conditions and several scandals about how the school was being run. After that, the church building sat abandoned and neglected, becoming a growing concern for neighbors, according to US Sun.
The 2023 BBC documentary “The Trouble With KanYe” previously claimed that West had taken over part of the Cornerstone Christian Church to run his presidential campaign, and that workers were allegedly sewing Yeezy clothing in a section of the church’s property.
In the months leading up to the fire, the once-promising property had turned into an eyesore. Photos from late 2023 showed boarded-up windows, littered trash, abandoned shopping carts, and graffiti-covered fences, The Daily Mail reported. Local residents repeatedly voiced their frustrations, with one neighbor telling the outlet, “I had no idea Kanye bought it, but it’s not a good look for the neighborhood. He needs to clean it up; you don’t want a bum breaking in and living there.”
In addition to its unkempt state, the property was also hit with a tax lien of $19,525 in December 2024, The Daily Mail reported.
The blaze, which started just after midnight on October 14, 2024, took firefighters around 30 minutes to extinguish,The US Sun reported. While the fire spread to some nearby trees, no injuries were reported, though a neighboring home suffered superficial damage from the heat.
This incident adds to the growing list of controversies surrounding West, whose recent attempts to revive his Sunday Service sessions also have faced backlash. In 2023, before the purchase was finalized, more than 12,000 people signed a petition urging Cornerstone Christian Church not to sell the property to West due to his history of offensive statements, The Daily Mail reported.
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