An Australian comedian has revealed how he holed up in Kanye West’s mansion for a week without anyone noticing.
In early 2023, Jewish documentary filmmaker, satirist and author John Safran spent seven days at the rapper’s home in Calabasas, California, after traveling from Melbourne to LA to investigate a slew of anti-Semitic comments made by the rapper.
He revealed on HIT FM’s Carrie and Tommy radio show how he managed to break into the property – an abandoned 320-acre property in Calabasas that was previously the headquarters of West’s famous ‘Sunday Service’.
John explained how one evening he realized he had to stay at the property to write a book about the experience, which he later called Squat.
“I think part of that was because he (Kanye) stopped paying his security people and the neighbors told me they hadn’t seen him there for months and months,” John explained.
“I needed a writer’s retreat and he had come out as a supporter of Hitler at the time, so I went to LA and New York to catch up with people in his circles who had ideas about it.”
Safran said getting into the property was easier than it seemed at first glance.
‘There is a large gate and behind it is a forest. You keep walking and the fence ends and the bushes start, so you just slide through and go down this bank and there’s a stream there,” he explained.
‘You go through the forest behind and then you reach the back of the country house. I went to move the sliding glass door and it was open.”
An Australian comedian has revealed how he holed up in Kanye West’s mansion for a whole week. In the photo John Safran
John told it ABC he didn’t travel to LA with the intention of squatting in Kanye’s mansion.
“But once I got there and talked to people, it became clear that this was the most interesting thing [thread] for me it was the history of Jewish Americans and Black Americans – how they have been allies, but also clashed,” he explained.
‘[During interviews] I heard that a squatter had previously stayed in a school building that Kanye set up and then abandoned. That set the thought in motion.”
“I heard from the neighbors that he hadn’t been seen there for a while.”
Kanye bought the ranch while he was still married to Kim Kardashian, and their divorce was officially finalized in November 2022.
The singer initially purchased the property in 2018 and used it for the Sunday Service and his headquarters at Donda Academy – an unaccredited private Christian school for kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Kanye reportedly lived on the property with his then-model girlfriend Irina Shayk.
There are reportedly two guesthouses on the property with a total of six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
In early 2023, Jewish documentary filmmaker, satirist and author John Safran spent seven days at the rapper’s home in Calabasas, California, after traveling from Melbourne to LA to investigate a slew of anti-Semitic comments made by the rapper.
The domes on the site – which no longer exist – were ‘Yecosystems’ 15 meters high.
West built the domes through the architecture arm of his Yeezy label, called Yeezy Home, which he launched in 2018. “We are looking for architects and industrial designers who want to make the world a better place,” he said at the time.
Photos taken of the property in July this year show the site has been abandoned and is now completely in ruins.
Photos taken of Kanye’s Calabasas estate in July this year show the complex abandoned and now in complete ruins
