Kanye West once teamed up with Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm writer Larry Charles to create a surreal television pilot that blurred the lines between satire and spectacle.
The unaired pilot, described by Charles as a “comical horror story,” was meant to star West in a fictionalized version of himself. JB Smoove was set to co-star.
The plot followed West visiting a Make-A-Wish fan, only to discover the child had faked an illness just to meet him. HBO passed on the show, and the pilot eventually leaked online in 2023.
Larry Charles said the collaboration was smooth at the time and he even considered West a friend. However, he blamed Hollywood, the rapper’s inner circle, and mental health issues for Kanye West’s unprecedented downfall.
“He’s a golden goose and golden gooses in Hollywood are exploited,” Charles told the New York Post. “Nobody steps up to help them and take them out of the limelight for a while and get them the help they need.”
He added, “Instead, they continue to exploit them because they can make so much money.”
Kanye West’s behavior has drawn widespread backlash since he went “death con 3” against Jews in 2022.
His repeated antisemitic comments, open admiration for Adolf Hitler and public praise of Nazis have led to the loss of major brand partnerships.
Adidas, Balenciaga and others have cut ties with him.
Just last week, West was barred from entering Australia, the home country of his wife, Bianca Censori. Meanwhile, the Rubicon Hip-Hop Festival in Slovakia was canceled entirely after West was announced as a headliner.
The announcement triggered public outcry and caused other artists to withdraw.
The pilot may have been shelved, but the themes it explored—celebrity worship, moral decay and unchecked ego—now echo in West’s real-world controversies.
The pilot episode leaked online in 2023, years after HBO passed on the project.
Ironically, the “old Kanye” did, in fact, make a dying kid’s wish come true back in 2018. The rapper reached out to a dying fan who was fighting late-stage cancer.
He contacted her via Facetime, where the two conversed and he reportedly performed a rendition of his song “I Love Kanye” for the child, who died a short time after their meeting.
Take a look at the pilot episode of Kanye’s unreleased pilot with Larry Charles below: