You have to cross the hills of northern Los Angeles to arrive 60 kilometers higher in Simi Valley, a small, wealthy and conservative town where former President Ronald Reagan rests. It is here that Kanye West opened the Donda Academy last year, a private school of around 100 students from kindergarten to high school, which has a sports-study curriculum for the best young basketball players in the country. .
“We want to provide faith-based education with the promotion of Christian values,” explains the website of this absurd establishment, which costs 15,000 dollars a year (at least as many euros), and asks parents to sign a confidentiality clause so as not to reveal anything about what happens there.
The school closes and then reopens in a secret location
Suspended from Twitter and Instagram in early October after a series of virulent messages to the Jewish community, Kanye West, who now calls himself “Ye”, was let go by several of his partners and sponsors including the giants Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap. Faced with the slippages of its founder, the Donda Academy first announced that it was closing its doors on October 27, before adding that it wanted “Starting from a clean sheet at the start of the 2023 school year”. But a week after that statement, the school actually reopened in a new, undisclosed location.
“We spotted what appeared to be students from Donda Academy, in their very recognizable black uniforms, in a building in the San Fernando Valley, 20 miles from the old address,” testifies Haven Orecchio-Egresit, journalist for the Insider site. “A school official has asked the education department that the new address of Donda Academy not be released to the public, because all the media and paparazzi in the country would come to the site and pose a threat to the safety of the students” , continues the journalist.
Cascading match cancellations
Beyond offering a simple school education, the Donda Academy had set itself the objective of recruiting and training the best high school basketball players in the country. A team of ten players (the Donda Doves) was born in November 2021, in which appeared in particular Robert Dillingham (17 years old), one of the best leaders of his generation. The Donda Academy was coached by a former NBA player, Dorell Wright (36), who notably worked for the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors.
“Several schools and national tournaments began removing the Doves from their schedule in late October, sparking heated debate between those who wanted to support the players, and those who felt drastic action needed to be taken after Kanye West’s comments,” says Luca Evans, journalist for the Los Angeles Times.
Faced with cascading match cancellations, Donda Academy’s best players began to jump ship. Robert Dillingham signed on November 3 with the Overtime Elite, the new high school league which pays its players, while the rear Javonte Taylor (17), the team’s second best hope, joined a high school in San Diego on November 8.
