Kanye West is facing claims he has become dependent on nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas—so much that he has huge tanks of it in his apartment, allegedly supplied by a dentist to the stars.
The claims emerged in the wake of a bitter break-up between West, who now goes by Ye, and the former chief of staff at his Yeezy brand, the notorious far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
Yiannopoulos made the allegations in a lengthy series of posts online Wednesday and in a sworn affidavit, which he said was made under penalty of perjury.
The drug, used during medical procedures as an anesthetic and for pain management, is also commonly used recreationally and provides users with a brief high when inhaled.
“There is a reason Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is no longer capable of successfully releasing music or clothing,” Yiannopoulos opened his thread on X Wednesday. “In fact, there are several reasons. But the most serious and the most recent is his dentist, Thomas Connelly.”
In the affidavit, the former Breitbart editor said Connelly should have his license revoked and be investigated for illegally supplying Ye with the nitrous oxide.
Yiannopoulos also alleged that Connelly charged Ye up to $50,000 a month for his services, “continuing to supply the gas long after the emergence of distressing symptoms that led to widespread comment and concern.”
An attorney for Connelly told the Daily Beast in an email that “we categorically deny all the false allegations made by Milo Yiannopoulos in his affidavit.”
“Mr. Yiannopoulos, who has admitted in the same affidavit to being motivated by personal grievances, has presented a narrative that is not only factually incorrect but also intentionally misleading,” the lawyer went on. “Dr. Connelly has never engaged in any reckless, unethical, or illegal conduct, nor has he ever endangered the health and safety of any of his patients.”
“Mr. Yiannopoulos, a self-admitted provocateur with a history of attention-seeking behavior, has fabricated a narrative that is both factually incorrect and maliciously intended to damage Dr. Connelly’s professional reputation,” the lawyer concluded. “His allegations are completely unfounded and devoid of any credible evidence.”
The attorney added that Connelly reserves the right to take legal action against Yiannopoulos, for what they called “completely unfounded, false and frankly, defamatory,” allegations.
Connelly’s Beverly Hills’ office is frequented by stars such as Post Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Cardi B and Odel Beckham Jr., some of whom have had grills and other dental jewelry installed by his office.
The tanned and tattooed beefcake is somewhat of a celebrity himself, having collected a following of more than 300k followers on Instagram. Connelly describes himself as the “father of diamond dentistry.”
Yiannopoulos, however, described Connelly as a “tasteless, grating, gauche and socially oblivious person, which I am able to state as fact under oath because he has gone to enormous lengths in his resume to communicate it.”
Ye was introduced to Connelly by songwriter Billy Walsh toward the end of 2023, according to Yiannopoulos.
Billy Walsh is the mastermind behind multiple platinum records, according to his artist profile at Universal Music. Ye and Walsh were pictured together as recently as Feb. 10.
Representatives for Walsh at Universal and Ye did not return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Yiannopoulos alleged that by April, three months after Connelly installed Ye’s infamous titanium grill, “employees at all levels of the company were worrying about Ye’s dependence on the gas and speaking openly about it.” Ye himself “talked about it non-stop in meetings,” seemingly “in and out of the inhaler mask on a near-constant basis.”
Connelly was allegedly seen “hauling four large surgical tanks of nitrous oxide into Bianca Censori’s apartment,” by a junior staff member at Yeezy who took a photo, according to the affidavit. Five other Yeezy employees allegedly confessed the same to Yiannopoulos, the affidavit stated. Yiannopoulos then allegedly pressed Connelly on this in a text conversation, to which Connelly confessed to the accusation but qualified that “the tanks are empty and have been empty. Very little nitrous has been administered to Ye.”
“A division head with years of experience working closely with Ye confided to me that ‘it was like speaking to an entirely different person,’” Yiannopoulos alleged.
Yiannopoulos alleges that at one point, Connelly was even giving Ye full anesthesia “for no apparent medical purpose,” and then “a bill was received and paid for over $61,000 by Yeezy solely for anesthesia and nitrous gas.”
Connelly was allegedly so involved in Ye’s affairs that he “had moved into the apartment building Ye resided at during this period, at Ye’s expense.”
Yiannopoulos resigned from his role at Yeezy on May 1 following the mercurial star’s seemingly sudden decision to roll out “Yeezy porn.”
Yiannopoulos told Ye he would not work for him anymore if he opened a porn studio, “so, as soon as he wanted to alienate me because he wanted to stay on the nitrous, he announced Yeezy porn and made me manager,” Yiannopoulos told the Daily Beast.
“He didn’t want to fire me, he wanted me to quit.”
“He’s deep in the f--cking drug haze, you know, he doesn’t wanna quit,” Yiannopoulos added.
Yiannopoulos implored Ye and others in a text message group chat the day after to cut ties with Connelly, something that has yet to happen, to Yiannopoulos’ knowledge.
“I have no reason to believe they are not (still in contact),” Yiannopoulos said of Ye’s relationship with Connelly. “Because Connelly’s the one who put that f--king stupid titanium thing in.”
Eric Cui, the current chief of staff at Yeezy first broke the news of Connelly’s alleged abuses in June when he claimed to online fan groups that medical scans of Ye’s head showed permanent damage due to nitrous oxide use, according to Yiannopoulos. He qualified Cui’s statement by saying, “I have not seen evidence of the scans he says were performed.”
Connelly currently has no complaints on his dentistry license, according to the California Dental Board.
Yiannopoulos said he filed the affidavit along with six other friends, associates and family members of Ye’s with the California Attorney General’s Office and the FBI on Aug. 4.
The Daily Beast reached out to both to confirm they had received the affidavit but has yet to receive a response.
Yiannopoulos, however, told the Daily Beast that the FBI and district attorney had received his affidavit and that an investigation is underway.