Long live Kimye: Kanye West directly addressed his estranged wife on-stage at the Larry Hoover concert in an emotional bid to reconcile.
Nearly four months after Kim Kardashian wore a wedding dress at Kanye West’s DONDA listening event, Kim, 41, was very much on her estranged husband’s mind at his latest event. During the song “Runaway,” the Chicago native, 44, begged Kim to come back to him. “Baby, I need you to run right back to me…more specifically, Kimberly,” he said during an unexpected, emotional moment at the Dec. 9 show.
Ye’s latest concert was a benefit to free Larry Hoover, the incarcerated gang member serving six life sentences for the 1973 murder of a drug dealer named William Young. Drake share the stage with the Donda rapper following the end of their beef, and performed several songs solo as well as with Kanye.
Since Kim filed for divorce from Kanye in February 2021, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians alum has publicly reunited with Ye on a handful of occasions. The couple teamed up in July to take their kids on a holiday in San Francisco. Later in July, Kim and the kids — North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm — attended the first DONDA listening event in Atlanta. In August, Kim and Kanye met up for lunch in Los Angeles. Later in the month, Kim appeared at Ye’s DONDA event in Chicago in the wedding dress. Most recently, the two attended the Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton Tribute in Miami, and again at the memorial for their late friend a week later.
Days before the Larry Hoover show, Kim gave some love to her estranged husband. While accepting the Fashion Icon award at the 2021 People’s Choice Awards, Kim credited Ye for her status as a fashionista. “To Kanye,” she said in her speech, “for really introducing me to the fashion world. I fell in love with fashion and I’m so inspired by so many people but again, this is like a dream that I get to wake up and wear these amazing clothes and try new things and take a risk. I’m so humbled.”
While Ye may have influenced Kim’s entry into the fashion world, it seems she’s had an effect on Ye’s fight to free Larry Hoover. Kim has been an advocate for criminal justice reform, and has taken up the cause of freeing many incarcerated persons over the years. In November, Kim used her celebrity status to bring attention to Julius Jones, who was facing execution for a 1999 murder he denied committing. Efforts to get Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to commute Julius’ sentence and save his life paid off. “Thank you so much Governor Stitt for commuting Julius Jones’s sentence to life without parole and stopping his execution today,” Kim tweeted once the governor spared Jones. It appears that Ye — who has vowed to win back his estranged wife, despite her romance with Pete Davidson – has picked up this passion for reform, as well.