Justin Vernon said Kanye West’s ego ended their friendship and predicted his downfall long before the rapper’s most public scandals.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon didn’t hold back when reflecting on his fractured bond with Kanye West, saying unchecked ego ruined a once-creative partnership that had captivated Hip-Hop and indie music alike.
The Bon Iver frontman described the unraveling of their relationship in a recent interview with The Times, revealing he walked away from Kanye West long before the rapper’s most polarizing controversies.
“Well, ego is such a powerful thing,” Vernon said. “And it destroyed my friend.”
Their collaboration began with promise. Vernon’s haunting vocals helped shape West’s 2010 opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, appearing on the track “Lost in the World.”
The two artists shared the stage at Coachella in 2011 and at Glastonbury in 2015, with West once calling Vernon “my favourite living artist.”
But behind the scenes, Vernon saw a troubling shift.
“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.
Vernon’s remarks come as West faces a string of legal and reputational issues.
His former assistant filed a lawsuit accusing him of assault, battery, stalking, sexual battery, sex trafficking and false imprisonment. West has also made repeated antisemitic remarks, including praise for Adolf Hitler, drawing widespread condemnation.
“It’s very sad to me,” Vernon said. “He just was destroyed by his own ego and nobody could have warned him because he wouldn’t listen. He doesn’t listen.”
Vernon contrasted West’s downfall with the resilience of Taylor Swift, another artist he’s collaborated with. “But then you look at somebody like Taylor? She’s built for it, man. She can handle it,” he said.
Now, Vernon appears to be stepping back from music altogether. “I’d be very surprised if I made another album,” he told The Times.