Kanye West has admitted to having homosexual encounters with his cousin, confirming rumors that have followed him throughout his career. Back in 2009, South Park aired a parody of Kanye singing “Gay Fish.” In 2013, InTouch magazine reported on Kanye's affair with fashion designer Riccardo Tisci. In 2016, Amber Rose claimed she had pleasured Kanye with her fingers. In 2017, transgender model Amanda Lepore hinted at a romantic relationship with him. In 2021, rumors spread about Kanye’s affair with cross-dressing celebrity Jeffree Star, who initially denied the allegations but, in 2025, confirmed that they were true.

Also in 2021, Kanye split from Kim Kardashian. Their relationship had long been rumored to be a PR setup with contractual obligations. After the breakup, Kim posted a photo of her long fingernails, saying she wasn’t allowed to wear them while married—something interpreted as a nod to Amber Rose’s claims about Kanye’s preferences. Kanye’s latest album is noscriptd Cuck, a slang term for a man who can't sexually satisfy his partner and has to tolerate her being with other men.

In 2022, Kanye appeared on the Alex Jones show—a pro-Kremlin grifter who once watched transgender porn live on-air and is a close friend of Charlie Sheen, an HIV-positive actor accused by multiple people, including his former wife, of sexually harassing young boys and possessing child pornography. That same year, Kanye appointed alt-right Jewish figure Milo Yiannopoulos as his chief of staff. Yiannopoulos, who is openly gay, once argued that teenage boys could benefit from sex with older men. Kanye also aligned himself with Mexican Nick Fuentes, another far-right figure known for several incidents involving gay and trans porn appearing on his livestreams.

Fuentes worked closely with Ali Alexander (Ali Abdul-Razaq Akbar) in promoting the "Stop the Steal" campaign, which claimed that Trump won the 2020 election. In 2023, allegations surfaced that Alexander and Fuentes were grooming underage boys within far-right activist circles. Multiple teenagers came forward, and the scandal prompted investigations.

And right on cue—Russia enters the picture. In 2024, Kanye traveled to Moscow to attend the birthday of fashion designer Gosha Rubchinskiy, with whom he began collaborating after Rubchinskiy was dropped by global fashion houses over accusations of grooming teenage boys. Russian fashion insiders had been aware of the rumors for over a decade. A year prior, a video appeared in the Russian-speaking internet in which Rubchinskiy was directly accused of preying on boys as young as 14 involved in his shows.

The turning point came when a leaked conversation showed Rubchinskiy propositioning a 16-year-old boy from Norway. The next day, another teenager came forward with similar claims. All the Western brands including Burberry, Adidas, and Comme des Garçons cut ties with Rubchinskiy.

So what happened next? Rubchinskiy returned to Russia and received a state grant to design a collection for the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Since then, he’s continued working in Russia—with the only exception of Kanye West appointing him as Head of Design for Yeezy. Rubchinskiy still shoots collections featuring half-naked teenage boys—models, who are happily brought to him for couch castings by Russian parents.

Kanye’s arrival in Moscow was met with enthusiastic praise from pro-Kremlin ideologues like Alexander Dugin and Zakhar Prilepin. Still, given their past statements, it’s hard to tell whether they’re impressed by Kanye’s pro-Russian and pro-Trump views—or just excited by any thought of Black men.

By the way, trying to find refuge in Russia is often the last stop for many disgraced washed up Western celebrities. Let's see if Kanye follows their example.

Russia continues to impress with its achievements and growth, reporting 33,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2024, according to the Russian Federal Health Agency Rospotrebnadzor. Over the past five years, the death toll has increased significantly—from 20,000 HIV/AIDS-related deaths reported in 2018. For perspective, Germany reported fewer than 500 such deaths in 2021, and globally, HIV/AIDS mortality fell by 40% between 2010 and 2021.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the number of people living with HIV in Russia increased by 27% between 2017 and 2023, while globally the number of HIV infections declined by 22% from 2010 to 2021.

The data becomes even more alarming when broken down by demographic groups. 4% of Russian men aged 30 to 40 are HIV-positive. In 2022, there were 25 regions in Russia where more than 1% of pregnant women were HIV-positive. Among the population aged 15 to 49, 1.5% are infected with HIV—higher than in African countries: 0.9% in Ethiopia, 0.7% in Congo, 1.1% in Chad and Liberia, and 1.3% in Nigeria. In Germany, for example, just 0.1% of people aged 15–49 are HIV-positive.

At the same time, Russia may resort to various tricks when presenting statistics in official statements. For example, instead of disclosing actual numbers of positive HIV tests, they may report how many individuals have registered with healthcare facilities and are receiving antiretroviral therapy. Official data on mortality and birth rates have already been classified by Russian authorities, and HIV statistics are likely next. Still, infection rates may begin to decline in the coming years—not due to improvement, but due to testing issues. In 2020, a decline in newly identified HIV cases was reported for the first time, only to be quickly attributed to reduced testing during the COVID pandemic. Russia remains highly dependent on HIV test kit manufacturers from Western countries. Although sanctions technically do not cover medicines or medical equipment, payment issues often prevent transactions even in these areas, and last year, HIV test kit procurement for clinics fell by one-third.