Kanye West’s $1.5M L.A. Church Burned To The Ground, Authorities Suspect Arson By Enemies

Controversial rapper Kanye West’s church has burned to the ground.

According to a new report, the L.A. church, purchased by West for $1.5 million in January 2023, was destroyed in a fire on Oct. 14, 2024. The fire lasted about 30 minutes before firefighters extinguished it, destroying the church and spreading to several nearby trees. While there were no reported injuries, the flames damaged a nearby home.

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Given West’s long list of enemies, authorities suspect arson, but no suspects have been released at this time.

Located in San Fernando Valley, West bought the church from the Cornerstone Christian Church, where he had a close relationship with a former pastor. West initially planned to expand the church into a space for his Donda Academy, but when the venture failed—tied to both legal issues and bad publicity—West abandoned the property. Locals, who had unsuccessfully petitioned for West not to lease any space at the church due to his offensive comments, expressed their disgust at West’s property management.

The church, boarded up and surrounded by trash, has been described as an “eyesore,” one local says, “It’s not a good look for the neighborhood. He needs to clean it up. You don’t want a bum breaking in and living there.”

West previously described Donda Academy as a school intended to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators.”

Ironically, West’s selling point emphasized the “useless” nature of creative careers such as art and singing. In a conversation with ABC News when he was promoting Donda Academy, he insisted, “So many schools are made to set kids up for industries that don’t even matter anymore.” He further asserted that Donda Academy’s engineering, computer programming and farming courses would turn kids into “geniuses.”

Residents have joked that the fire is a higher power’s way of expressing disapproval of West and his ventures.