Brad Barket/Getty Images for Fast Company
Kanye West has been working behind the scenes to contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement.
While the outspoken rapper has not tweeted since early March, West has reportedly donated $2 million in relation to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, TMZ and Variety have reported.
Per the new reports, West, a father of four, also set up a college savings fund to cover tuition for Floyd‘s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna. Floyd died on May 25 after police officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd to the ground using his knee on Floyd’s neck during his arrest. Chauvin and three other officers involved in Floyd’s arrest and resulting death have since been fired, arrested and charged in a criminal case.
Additionally, West is reportedly covering legal costs for the families of Arbery, who was fatally shot while on a jog in February, and Taylor, who was killed in her home by police in March.
Citing a rep, Variety also reported the rapper is donating to Black-owned businesses in his native Chicago. TMZ reported he is also contributing to ones nationwide.
E! News has reached out to West’s rep for comment.
Late last month, his famous wife Kim Kardashian spoke out against the injustice in an Instagram post.
“For years, with every horrific murder of an innocent Black man, woman, or child, I have always tried to find the right words to express my condolences and outrage, but the privilege I am afforded by the color of my skin has often left me feeling like this is not a fight that I can truly take on my own. Not today, not anymore,” she said in her post.
“Like so many of you, I am angry. I am more than angry. I am infuriated and I am disgusted,” the Skims mogul continued. “I am exhausted by the heartbreak I feel seeing mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children suffering because their loved one was murdered or locked away unjustly for being Black.”
She added, “Even though I will never know the pain and suffering they have endured, or what it feels like to try to survive in a world plagued by systemic racism, I know I can use my own voice to help amplify those voices that have been muffled for too long.”
On Thursday, Kardashian declared her and her teams’ support of the movement and announced her businesses will be donating to Black Lives Matter, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Urban League and Color of Change.
Meanwhile a GoFundMe campaign devoted to Gianna’s “care and future” following the loss of her father has amassed more than $1.5 million in donations.
