What did Tremaine Emory say about getting fired by Kanye West? Former Yeezy brand director talks about rapper's lack of mental health care

Tremaine Emory, Yeezy's former brand director, opened up about working with Kanye West, known as Ye, in a new interview with Complex's Noah Callahan-Bever on July 31, 2024. Emory explained he got the call to work with Ye while he was in Milan with the late Virgil Abloh, a mutual friend who was a fashion designer.

He added Abloh was "super supportive" of this opportunity. When Emory began working with Kanye West in 2016, he started as a consultant before branching into other roles.

"It was a myriad of things. It was really just asking your opinion and then some design. By the end of it, I was, like, creative director of G.O.O.D. Music and brand director of Yeezy."

When asked about the high-pressure stakes of working with Kanye West, Emory said he looked at the rapper like a human being, not a God, adding that his accomplishments were as important as Ye's. He said things came to a head after he saw how West treated people around him.

"I just thought he wasn’t taking care of himself, in my opinion, as far as on the mental health side of things, and the way he was treating people, talking to people. There was a situation in Uganda. He was screaming at two people. And not that he should scream at anyone, but these two people, he shouldn’t have been screaming at them in front of colleagues."

However, Emory said the proverbial "straw" that broke the camel's back was the lack of people standing up to Kanye West and challenging him. He continued that he "stopped going on trips" after this realization, ultimately leading to his firing. He added he was asked to come back several times but refused.

Tremaine Emory parted ways with Yeezy in 2018.

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Tremaine Emory accused Kanye West of using Virgil Alboh's death in his "victim campaign"

Tremaine Emory and Kanye's animosity became the topic of speculation in late 2022. This came after Kanye West's controversial Paris Fashion Week on October 3, 2022, where his models wore t-shirts with the words "White Lives Matter."

The rapper had accused Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, of killing his "best friend" Virgil Alboh. Alboh died on November 28, 2021, because of a rare form of cancer.

Following this, Emory hit back at the rapper on social media for playing the victim using Alboh's death. According to The Daily Mail, the designer accused Ye of bad-mouthing the late designer despite knowing he had cancer.

"Your best friend Virgil, N----- PLEASE, this time last year you said Virgil’s designs are a disgrace to the black community infont of all your employees at yeezy – ASK LUCETTE HOLLAND…I GOT ALL THE “RECEIPTS” (don’t let me get into the things you said about v after his death)."

He continued,

"Ye tell the ppl why you didn’t get invited to Virgil’s actual funeral the one before the public one at the museum. You knew Virgil had terminal cancer and you rode on him in group chats, at yeezy, interviews…YOU ARE SO BROKEN. KEEP VIRGIL NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH…KEEP @gabriellak_j NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH…"

On October 7, Kanye West posted a series of alleged text threads between him and Emory, in which the latter again accused the rapper of being hard on Alboh despite his illness. According to Complex, Ye replied that he was unaware that Alboh had cancer, claiming the fashion designer never told him.

He also admitted that he was jealous of Alboh, adding he felt betrayed and lied to when the designer gave rapper Drake the green diamond watch. He also claimed that he missed and loved the late designer.