US rapper Kanye West has been spotted wearing a west Belfast school’s sports jacket in an online video.
In footage posted on Instagram by fellow music artist, Ty Dolla $ign, the multi-millionaire rap star is seen in a top featuring the crest of St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School.
Principal Siobhan Kelly told The Irish News that the jacket had been designed for the school’s Gaelic footballers who competed in the MacLarnon Cup final on St Patrick’s Day in 2008.
“There were only 35 of them made – it was only the players and the management who got one, so they were pretty rare,” she said.
Eagled-eyed social media users had been quick to identify the top belonging to the Glen Road school when footage of the singer, who has legally changed his name to Ye, wearing it appeared online on Thursday.
Former St Mary’s pupil and ex-Northern Ireland and Liverpool FC footballer Ryan McLaughlin was among those who shared an image of the star sporting the top on X/Twitter, and wrote: “Why is Kanye West wearing a St Mary’s top?”
Mrs Kelly said on Friday that there had been “great excitement” around the school after the footage appeared.
Why is Kanye west wearing a St Mary’s top pic.twitter.com/KNuGPM0WOO
— Ryan McLaughlin (@RyanMcL2) October 5, 2023
“There were lots of messages going about on Thursday night about the top, lots of people asking was it real and why was a big star like him wearing it,” she said.
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“The top he is wearing was designed for the school for the MacLarnon Cup final on St Patrick’s Day in 2008.
“A number of our staff were actually on that team when they were former pupils, so they recognised it straight away,” she said.
“And what was funny was that one of the trainers who was in with the boys on Thursday was actually wearing the same top, so we could see clearly it was the same top.”
When asked how the jacket ended up being worn by the global superstar, Mrs Kelly said: “One of the teachers suggested that many of our students went to Philadelphia that summer, maybe it was left over there or perhaps it has been donated to a charity shop.
“There has been a great buzz in the school all day about it, the boys just find it unbelievable to think he was wearing one of the school tops.”
The footage of West in the St Mary’s GAA top was captured during the star’s pedicure treatment.
In the clip, he could be seen sitting in a chair with one foot in a wash basin and the other up on the pedicurist’s lap.
But the rapper, who was previously married to Kim Kardashian, cuts the treatment short after he is heard crying out in pain.
After continuing for a few more seconds, the singer then jumps up and says: “I’m not gonna do the rest of it”.
He then states: “It’s my toes. It’s my toes. I’m not gonna do it. It hurt.”
The video then cuts to Ty Dolla $ign, who humorously appears shocked and confused.
