Self-Destruct Button: Did Kanye West get banned from Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Kanye West has been in the news for all sorts of terrible things over the last week, including saying some antisemitic and racist remarks in regards to Jewish people. Those comments have led to companies canceling deals or distancing brands from the rapper—and fans thought Konami may have been among those companies for a brief moment. 

Multiple social media accounts over the last two days have been circulating an image from the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website that displays Ye among a number of suspended players not allowed to compete in official tournaments affiliated with Konami. 

In all of the posts, you can see Ye West being listed on the Suspended Persons List for “Unsporting Conduct – Severe” with an infraction date of Oct. 25, 2022, and a potential reinstatement date of April 1, 2057. 

Right off the bat, you can tell the post is fake since Ye West is listed at the top of the list, which can’t be sorted at all on the official website—along with the date being tied to some of his recent comments and the absurd reinstatement date of April Fools more than 30 years in the future. In addition to that, going to the actual Suspended Persons List and searching for Ye will bring up no results. 

For those who fell for the joke, no, Kanye hasn’t been banned from competing in Yu-Gi-Oh! events and likely hasn’t thought about the card game much at all.

But, that doesn’t mean if he did for some reason decide to attend any MTG events that Konami wouldn’t bar him from doing so following the ongoing controversy.

Now if this was in fact real, it would mean Ye was caught doing one of the following actions at an event, according to the official Yu-Gi-Oh! Infractions and Penalties Policy: 

• A player writes on or otherwise damages or defaces tournament or venue property.
• A player physically or verbally assaults or threatens another individual.
• A player steals while on tournament site.
• A player attends an event while intoxicated.

Judging from his recent actions, some of these actions don’t seem too farfetched for Ye. But for now, the rapper is free to build a Deck and get his game on—which he might be inclined to do if all of his other hobbies and opportunities continue going down the drain.