NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A former Kanye West superfan has said yes to the offer for a free tattoo removal by a London studio after his Kanye ink tribute lost all meaning.
Alex Jones was Ye obsessed when he decided to mark his skin permanently with alternative cover art from the rapper’s 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
The tattoo that featured a variation of the college dropout bear brought him joy – that was until Ye began his hateful anti-Semitic speech campaign that hit headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Alex’s hesitation over his ink follows Adidas’ decision to cease their partnership with the musician over a string of ‘unacceptable and dangerous’ moves, losing the rapper billions of dollars.
Sparking huge controversy at Paris Fashion Week after appearing in a T-shirt that featured the slogan White Lives Matter, Kanye demanded the audience at his Yeezy Season 9 show recognise him as ‘the leader’.
Following the incident, on a separate occasion, the star uploaded screenshots of texts on Instagram and tweeted messages that contained anti-Semitic ideas and insinuated that Jewish people were using control to intimidate him.
Taking to Twitter to share his dismay at his icon’s behaviour, East Sussex-based Alex joked about wanting rid of the tribute tattoo that he coincidentally got ‘a week or two’ after the performer announced his allegiance to Donald Trump.
His tweet read: ‘I got a Kanye-related tattoo in 2016 and ever since he’s been the most colossal f**k head on the planet’.
Speaking now, after Ye’s recent spate of controversial behaviour, Alex shared his feelings with Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s really kind of depressing to see someone that you like, who was your hero, start saying awful things about entire groups of people.
‘So yeah, it’s been quite a sad journey.’
Unexpectedly, London-based NAAMA Studios – who already ran a ‘Second Chances’ social impact campaign that offered free removal of triggering tattoos – replied and offered the disgruntled fan a way out of his now unsavoury association.
Alex remembered: ‘I’ve never really thought about getting it off but I just made a tweet about the tattoo, just to be funny, and then this company got in touch with me to say that they’d give me a free removal.’
Briony Garbett of NAAMA Studios explained why they felt the need to chip in: ‘People with Kanye tattoos were coming to us and you could hear how triggering it was for them, how embarrassing and shameful they felt, given he’s been making the headlines for the wrong reasons.
‘We wanted to alleviate that feeling and offer a place for people to come.
Offering support and sympathy to fans of Kanye, she continued: ‘They couldn’t have predicted what he was going to be saying or the things he would be standing for now.
‘I don’t think there’s any shame in people having got the tattoos in the first place.’
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The removal, which will take up to six sessions to complete, has got the 25-year-old considering whether tattoos are ever a good idea in general.
When asked if he’d been put off getting inked, Alex replied: ‘Yeah, a little bit.
‘I have another tattoo of Phoebe Bridgers but I think I’m safe with her because she seems like a very, wholesome, nice person.
‘But yeah, I’ve definitely been thinking a bit more about whether I’d want to do it again.
‘You’ve got to be careful with an individual because they can quite easily really let you down.’
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Giving predictions on who’ll cause the next wave of upset fans to walk through her door, Briony was hesitant to set a name in stone, but feared the Qatar World Cup may spike her appointment list.
She joked: ‘We’ll get enough exes and broken-down relationships to remove in the meantime, but maybe with the World Cup coming up there might be some football fans that want to erase some of their some of their affiliations.’
If you’re looking to say bYE to a Kanye-specific design, the team at NAAMA are looking to add former fans to their free removal waiting list.
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
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