Kanye West is a billionaire rapper and fashion mogul who was banned from both Instagram (Meta) and Twitter this past week after posting antisemitic content and making threats against the Jewish people. Contrary to what many people think – including those that are defending his behavior as an isolated incident due to his well-known mental health issues and recent divorce – Kanye has a long history of antisemitism.
During a December 2013 interview with 'The Breakfast Club' on Power 105, Kanye used the antisemitic trope that all Jews are rich and well-connected. Kanye stated that former President Obama endured difficulties in office because "Black people don't have the same level of connections as Jewish people" and that "Jewish people" are handed jobs because of these connections rather than having to "work for it." During this same interview, he also stated "we ain't Jewish, we don't got money." According to Forbes, Kanye's net worth currently exceeds $2 Billion USD.
Former TMZ reporter Van Lathan came forward this week to share that Kanye said he "loved Hitler and the Nazis" during a 2018 podcast but TMZ editors were forced to remove that part of the segment. Lathan stated, "I’ve already heard him say that stuff before."
In July 2020, during his failed Presidential bid, Kanye bizarrely suggested that the Jewish State of Israel pay women in Africa $1 million USD for every child they carry to term, perpetuating antisemitic tropes of Jewish wealth.
Later that year, Kanye contributed $100,000 to antisemitic rapper M-1 (aka Lavonne Alford). Alford often criticized U.S. aid to Israel being used to defend Jews and has praised PLFP terrorist Leila Khaled as a "revolutionary." Khaled participated in the hijacking of two airplanes that resulted in the death of a steward. This was not the first time Kanye would promote an antisemite: in 2021, he featured notorious Jew hater 'Jay Electronica' on his new album. Electronica's prior social media postings include "vile teachings of the Talmud" and claiming Black people were the "true children of Israel."
In a November 2021 interview with 'Drink Champs,' Kanye claimed that Black people were the actual Hebrews, the chosen people of the Bible, and descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel. These types of conspiracy theories and antisemitic rhetoric is often used by antisemites like Louis Farrakhan, someone Kanye has a relationship with dating back years.
2015 Kanye West with Kim Kardashian meeting with antisemite Lois Farrakhan
This past week, Kanye's obsession with the Jewish people culminated with a series of grossly antisemitic rants on social media following his troubling interview on the Tucker Carlson show where the rapper claimed the Abraham Accords were orchestrated by Jared Kushner in order "to make money." In the same interview, Kanye stated he wished his children celebrated Hanukkah instead of Kwanzaa in order to learn "financial engineering" and again perpetuated the antisemitic trope that Black people were the real Jews. Fox removed/edited these parts of the segment out, drawing criticism.
Kanye's recent posts and tweets, which caused him to be locked out of his accounts on both platforms, included the following:
I'm going death con [Defcon] 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE
I can't be antisemitic because black people are actually Jew also
You guys [Jews] have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda
Then this past Wednesday, Kanye West showed no remorse as he doubled down on his recent antisemitic comments, saying he's happy that he crossed the line and claimed he is just calling out Jews for bad business!
With an audience on Twitter totaling 31.4 million - more than double the number of Jews globally - we must ask ourselves if social media companies should take more responsibility to stop antisemitism online. Comments similar to Kanye's have lead to real world violence such as the Jersey City shootings in which two members of an extremist Black Hebrew Israelites sect murdered a police officer and then killed three civilians in a Kosher supermarket.
StopAntisemitism's Executive Director discusses why Kanye West, and others like him, are breaking numerous social media community guidelines and as a result, should have their accounts permanently banned in this Newsweek piece. All it takes is just ONE of Kanye’s 31.4 million followers to act on his incitement and cause harm against Jews – do we have to wait for something horrible to happen before Meta and Twitter will stop giving Kanye a platform to spew his hatred?