Kanye West’s $1.5 million abandoned church has burned down
Kanye West‘s abandoned church, once worth $1.5 million, has reportedly burned down. The property in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley previously belonged to the nearby Cornerstone Christian Church.
Ye bought the one-story home in January 2023 for seven figures and planned to use the space for his Donda Academy. However, he left the place to rot, disgruntling many locals in the area.
According to The Sun, thousands of people petitioned for Kanye not to lease any space at the church following his antisemitic comments about the Jewish community. Still, he ended up buying the property behind it.
The space had boarded-up windows, shopping trolleys and rubbish dumped on the land. One person said, “I had no idea Kanye bought it but it’s not a good look for the neighbourhood. He needs to clean it up. You don’t want a bum breaking in and living there.”
Current photos show empty land and security fencing after a fire, possibly an act of arson, took place at around 12:45am on October 14th. Firefighters treated large flames that covered the home and nearby trees for around 30 minutes. No injuries were reported, but one nearby residence was damaged from the heat and flames.
Photos now show the site looking worse than before, with the property covered in graffiti and debris scattered on the ground. Yellow caution tape is still displayed near the path, while a broken fence with a no-trespassing sign is leaning against a nearby tree.
Donda Academy was said to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators by providing them with a world-class education that includes a rigorous core curriculum, and an emphasis on sustainability, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving”.
Ye told ABC News, “So many schools are made to set kids up for industries that don’t even matter anymore,” revealing the the school had courses in engineering, computer programming and farming, which could turn kids into “geniuses.”