A deranged person like Kanye West, the African American rapper and designer who calls himself Ye, should be ignored. But ignoring him is not really an option. Due to his enormous following on social media and his ability to poison impressionable minds, his antisemitic rants on X and Instagram cannot be blithely disregarded.
A few days ago, West left the X platform after posting a stream of disgusting antisemitic missives. It remains unclear whether he jumped or was pushed, but the news of his departure should be welcomed.
This scoundrel is a menace to himself and society at large.
Prior to his exit from X, West retracted an apology he issued more than a year ago concerning his antisemitic outbursts. But now he is singing a different song.
On X, he confessed he is a Nazi and professed his love for Adolf Hitler. “I’m never apologizing for my Jewish comments,” he wrote in a scathing post on February 7, thereby taking back the apology he released, in Hebrew, on Instagram on December 26, 2023.
In his apology, he wrote, “It was not my intention to offend or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.”
West got into trouble in 2022 after posting a tweet threatening to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” In this tweet, he also shared a screenshot of a text exchange with the producer Sean Combs in which he suggested that Jews controlled Combs.
As might have been expected, West’s animus toward Jews had consequences. The Creative Artists Agency, which represented West in the Hollywood entertainment industry, summarily dumped him. And Adidas, a German footwear company whom he represented in advertising campaigns, got rid of him.
These twin blows to his financial solvency may have accounted for his decision in 2023 to apologize for his offensive remarks.
But now, having reiterated his love for Hitler, ratified his self-identity as a Nazi and confirmed his hatred of Jews, West’s apology should be seen for what it actually was from the very outset: hollow, insincere and worthless.
It is plainbly evident that West, a dangerous subversive who should be sidelined and silenced, cannot be trusted to abide by his promises.
As the chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, noted, West has “a far-reaching platform on which to spread his antisemitism and hate. Words matter. And as we’ve seen too many times before, hateful rhetoric can prompt real-world consequences.”
Greenblatt is correct, of course. By any yardstick, West is nothing more than a miserable racist. And since he still has an audience on Instagram that is presumably susceptible to his antisemitic insults, he should be watched carefully.
Freedom of speech is a sacred right in the United States. But when that constitutional right is flagrantly abused to incite racial hatred and strife, a red line has been crossed. In every respect, West is guilty of that transgression.
It would be wholly appropriate if Instagram boots West off its platform. West is an odious creature whose destructive influence should be rigorously contained. It is an open-and-shut case.