R&B singer Keyshia Cole has opted to remove her son from the Donda Academy, a private Christian school founded by rapper-turned-producer Kanye West. While she stood by him through his recent controversial remarks regarding George Floyd and Jewish people, she no longer felt safe when the Grammy Award-winner threatened to “shoot up the school.”
The revelation came after a Twitter user asked, “Donda Academy shut down and I have to ask… what kind of parent sends a kid to an unaccredited religious indoctrination center where you have to sign an NDA to enroll? For $15k/year? Who listens to Ye speak and goes ‘I’ll trust this man with my child,’” tagging the star.
The “I Should Have Cheated” singer replied, explaining why her son Daniel Gibson Jr., 12, is no longer a student in the academy.
“I took my DJ out of Donda sadly after ye said he was back to shoot the school up, that scared me a bit,” she tweeted.
During an online back-and-forth with Louisiana rapper Boosie, Kanye said he’d “shoot up the school up,” after the Boosie criticized Kanye for his white lives matter shirt and recent behavior.
Kanye told Boosie, “COME SMACK ME OR COME SHOOT ME IM THE ONE THAT GOT BULLIED BY THE ENTIRE BLACK CELEBRITY COMMUNITY NOW IM BACK TO SHOOT THE SCHOOL UP.”
Boosie answered him, saying, “TALKING ABOUT U BACK TO SHOOT THE SCHOOL UP N U GOT A SCHOOL IS NOT THE RIGHT WORDS #startthinkingbeforeyoutalk I DONT WANT NO SMOKE @kanyewest JUST COULDNT LET U DO THAT OUR RACE HIS LOVEONES REALLY NEED TO GET @kanyewest HELP THIS THE ‘GET OUT’ movie N REAL LIFE SMH”
In addition to saying she took her child out of the school, Cole corrected the narrative that all parents had to sign a nondisclosure agreement for Ye’s mystery school that opened in August.
Named after the artist’s late mother, the private faith and tuition-based school is located in Ventura County, CA, boasting a 10:1 student-to-teacher ratio, teaching core classes in language arts, math, and science, and two enrichment classes a day in either world language, visual arts, film, choir, and parkour, according to Finurah.
With approximately 100 students enrolled at the academy, reports say, 50 percent of the student body received scholarships from West, and the others were said to have paid a yearly tuition of $15,000.
Students are required to wear apparel designed by students, and parents were said to have been asked to sign contracts saying they will not share certain information with the press.
The singer dismissed that rumor. She tweeted, “And there was no NDA signed. Idk who may have, but that wasn’t brought up to us.”
Over the last three months, West has occupied national headlines with controversial statements. The backlash caused the staffers to leave the school and administrators on Wednesday, Oct. 26 to sent a note to parents telling them the school was closing.
Moments after the first letter went out, another note was emailed to the parents, saying, “Join us tomorrow morning in worship for the return of Donda Academy. With the help of our parents and community, we are back and returning with a vengeance!”
