Rapper and producer Kanye West was allegedly seen at the A1 Bakery in Melbourne this week.
A frenzy of rumours began after the rapper Kanye West was said to be spotted at various locations in Melbourne, including the beloved A1 Bakery. But is the controversial artist really trouncing around the city?
Well, no. It’s pretty unlikely that he’s even in Australia at all. Although he does have plans to visit soon – after recently tying the knot with Ivanhoe native and former Yeezy employee Bianca Censori, West will reportedly be taking a trip down under to meet his new wife’s family.
Kanye West in Melbourne
- The Donda rapper is planning a trip to Melbourne following his wedding with local architect Bianca Censori
- Rumours over Kanye sightings in Melbourne have gone wild in the past few days, with alleged spottings at the Medusa Lounge and the A1 Bakery
- Australian government ministers have said the rapper may face difficulties getting an Australian visa due to recent troubling anti-Semitic comments
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The story that Kanye was picking up pastries from the A1 Bakery, which went viral over the past few days and was picked up by news outlets across the country, is claimed to be the work of taxi driver and TikTok creator Ryan Eido (AKA @classyryan3).
After hearing about Kanye’s recent nuptials, Ryan put up a video saying the rapper had moved to Kew, which did he says got around half a million views in a few hours.
“Everyone was commenting and commenting, and I was like, what’s next? And then I just kept going,” he tells me.
Ryan says the Lebanese bakery seemed like the perfectly unexpected place for Kanye to be. He left a comment on a video by creator @ambermontgomery2 stating that was where he had just laid eyes on Ye.
“The A1 Bakery has a big community where people are like, ‘why, out of all places, the A1 Bakery?’. Totally random that came to mind.”
@classyryan Replying to @Ryan Ryan 🌐 KANYE WEST SPOTTED IN SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE #kanyewest #kanye #melbourne #australia #america #artist
After being met with overwhelming engagement, Ryan has since run with the theme of Kayne sightings and has posted multiple videos claiming Kanye was seen at the Frankston Art Gallery, the Chadstone Shopping Centre and the Medusa Lounge in Oakleigh.
While Ryan intended the videos to be funny, the amount of people who have taken them seriously has come as a surprise. He says the day after his Medusa Lounge video was posted, the venue had a full house with fans on the hunt for Ye.
“It’s really weird because it’s a joke but at the same time people are like, ‘okay, now I’m going there’. The businesses that I’ve put on there, they’re being swarmed,” he says.
The exact dates of Kanye’s Melbourne visit are still unknown, but if there’s anything to be gleaned from the buzz so far, it’s sure to cause quite a stir.
And Kayne, if you’re reading this: go ahead and grab yourself a zaatar pie – no one’s going to fall for it a second time.
For more on Kanye West’s contested trip to Australia, head here.