Who are Dov Charney and Jon Rafman? Kanye dedicates an Instagram post to all those who inspired his 'apology'

On February 12, 2024, rapper, socialite, and entrepreneur Kanye West took to his Instagram and shared a screenshot of his DM with Courtney Production where he mentioned Dov Charney as his “family” and claimed that he stood with his “Jewish brother.”

The since-deleted post was captioned as follows:

“DOV CHARNEY IS MY BROTHER AND ME AND MY WIFE’S BUSINESS PARTNER WHEN JAMIE SALTER AND EVERYONE ELSE WOULDN’T TAKE MY CALLS HE LET ME SLEEP AT HIS FACTORY DOV CHARNEY, JONAH HILL AND JON RAFMAN ARE 3 PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED MY APOLOGY.”

The apology referred to here by Kanye West is for his racism and antisemitism for which he has faced severe backlash in the past, including the time he wore the controversial “White Lives Matter” t-shirt at the Paris Fashion Week 2022 or posted a series of anti-Jewish tweets, one even claiming he “can’t be antisemitic” because “Black People are actually Jew(s) also.”

The apology came in the form of Ye’s clothing brand Yeezy selling all merchandise for a flat $20.

Meanwhile, Kanye also shared a post with a screengrab of Dov Charney’s Wikipedia page and captioned it as follows:

“NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE FOR YOU WHEN EVERYONE ELSE HAD THEIR BACKS TURNED.”

For those unaware, Dov Charney is Kanye’s business partner, while Jon Rafman is the artist who has designed the cover of the rapper’s upcoming album Vultures.

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All you need to know about Dov Charney and Jon Rafman and their association with Kanye West

Jon Rafman

According to Art Station, Jon Rafman is a 42-year-old Canadian artist, filmmaker, and essayist who focuses on the “emotional, social, and existential impact of technology on contemporary life.”

Active since 2009, Jon rose to fame with his 2015 exhibit at Musee d’art contemporain de Montreal. He is also famous for displaying images from Google Street View in his online artwork venture called 9-Eyes. He also derives inspiration from Google Earth and Second Life.

As per Art-Net reports, in 2020, Jon Rafman was accused of s*xual misconduct by three women which were later dismissed. After a year of legal troubles, in 2021, he released his award-winning film Punctured Sky.

On February 8, 2024, Kanye West released the music video for his forthcoming album Vultures (Havoc Version) and mentioned that Jon Rafman created it using full AI imagery.

Believed to be an apology album, its dystopian trailer shows a dark and apocalyptic world featuring hood-wearing cultists, werewolves, killer clowns, and more; as Ye raps in the background, “How am I antisemitic?”

As per Art-Net, the album's teaser was released on January 24 in collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign. Moreover, the album is set to unveil in three parts, February 9, March 8, and April 5.

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Dov Charney

The 45-year-old Dov Charney is also a Canadian, known as the founder of the clothing brand American Apparel (since early 1990s) which filed for bankruptcy in 2015 right after allegations of harassment, assault, gender discrimination, and racism arose against him.

He was fired from the company and later founded another brand called Los Angeles Apparel in 2016, as per Wikipedia. A Jew hailing from Montreal, his products were targeted toward young metropolitan adults.

According to Highsnobiety, in June 2023, Kanye West appointed Dov Charney as the new CEO of his clothing company Yeezy. The matter got attention when the duo was seen shopping together in Japan’s Don Quijote markets, reportedly tasting food for an upcoming Yeezy event.