Kanye West Is Selling Church-Themed Coachella Merch

Skip navigation!

After some back and forth about the set design, Kanye West actually did perform at Coachella 2019, bringing his weekly Sunday Service to the masses on Easter. And because no 'Ye performance is complete without a selection of merch for his fans to shop, the rapper presented "church clothes."

#Coachella pic.twitter.com/3E28Ui21Rc
— Def Jam Recordings (@defjam) April 21, 2019

The 8-piece collection included neutral-hued items bearing slogans often heard in church. He included sweatshirts priced from $165 to $225 and bearing the phrases "Holy Spirit" and "Trust God," as well as a pair of $50 socks that read "Jesus Walks." Onlookers immediately took to social media to call West out for selling "church socks on Easter," branding him "a real Prophet for Profit." One user even labeled him sacrilegious. "You don’t think selling $225 holy hoodies and $50 church socks on EASTER SUNDAY is some straight-up BLASPHEMY??," they wrote.

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

Nigga sold y’all church socks on Easter you can’t make this kinda shit up hahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahah

A real Prophet for Profit.
— CHASE (@ChaseNCashe) April 21, 2019

You don’t think selling $225 holy hoodies and $50 church socks on EASTER SUNDAY is some straight-up BLASPHEMY?? pic.twitter.com/2igqRYIzEV
— ⬛️⬛️⬛️ Miss Em, First of Her Name (@fabmissem) April 21, 2019

"I have weird very-not-good feelings abt Kanye capitalizing imagery of the Black church while selling bare min t-shirts & socks at $50-70 a pop & providing others viewership to his spectacle through an actual peephole lens. I cant entirely enunciate my disdain for it but its there," @jongrabwb writes.

I have weird very-not-good feelings abt Kanye capitalizing imagery of the black church while selling bare min t-shirts & socks at $50-70 a pop & providing others viewership to his spectacle through an actual peephole lens. I cant entirely enunciate my disdain for it but its there pic.twitter.com/gh8FZAzIGk
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF ? (@jongraywb) April 21, 2019

But beyond the price point, many people took issue with West commodifying a sacred Black cultural practice after saying that slavery was a choice and continuing to show support for Donald Trump. Actress Natasha Rothwell tweeted "Yeah, no. I REFUSE to support a man who proudly supports a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic president whose policies endanger the very people who subsidized his career just because he's selling redemption dressed up in church clothes. GTFOH."

Yeah, no. I REFUSE to support a man who proudly supports a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic president whose policies endanger the very people who subsidized his career just because he's selling redemption dressed up in church clothes. GTFOH.
— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) April 21, 2019

Scottie Beam shared a previously recorded clip of her on the Revolt show State of the Culture where she addressed West and his Sunday Service performances with the caption "you can have those fake ass sermons." In shared clip, Beam says "using God as a ploy to get Black people to forgive you, because a lot of people do that. A lot of people bring up God, pull out God whenever its convenient for them because you've done fucked up so bad, is when you bring up our Lord and Savior."

Controversy aside, Kanye fans still stood in long lines to get their hands on his latest round of merch. The collection is also available online for a limited time.

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT