Kanye West’s behaviour explained by former friend Bon Iver: ‘Destroyed by his own ego’

Kanye West’s former music industry friend, Bon Iver, whose real name is Justin Vernon, revealed the real reason he believes the rapper has ended up this way.

In a new interview with The Times, the 44-year-old singer shared his perspective on what went wrong with the 48-year-old rapper, with whom he previously collaborated a decade ago.

"My friendship with Kanye started in 2009 or 2010. And I left my friendship with him around 2014 — before even the Trump stuff, the KKK s***,” he said of the Bully rapper.

Vernon continued, “It’s very sad to me. He just was destroyed by his own ego and nobody could have warned him because he wouldn’t listen. He doesn’t listen.”

In contrast, he compared West to Taylor Swift, noting, “But then you look at somebody like Taylor? She’s built for it, man. She can handle it.”

For those unversed, West and Vernon first teamed up on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. While he had also performed as a guest at West’s Coachella set in 2011 and his Glastonbury headline set on the Pyramid Stage in 2015.

Notably, Kanye West has previously praised Bon Iver as well, calling him his “favourite living artist."