Kanye West has sparked outrage after saying on Twitter that he’ll go to “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” after his Instagram account was restricted for a post many deemed antisemitic.
The tweet on Friday triggered outrage around the world, and was labelled by the American Jewish Committee as a "vicious antisemitic comment". Twitter removed the post, and also confirmed on Sunday afternoon that West's account has been locked "due to a violation of Twitter’s policies".
The global star was embroiled in controversy after wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at a Paris fashion show last week. The Anti-Defamation League has described the controversial slogan as a “white supremacist phrase.”
Fellow rapper Sean Combs - also known as Diddy and Puff Daddy – criticised him for wearing the shirt in text messages shared to Instagram by West on Friday.
In one of the messages, West told Diddy: “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.” He captioned the Instagram post “Jesus is Jew.”
West’s Instagram account was then restricted, after which he took to Twitter for the first time since the 2020 US election where he called out Meta’s Mark Zuckerburg, who is Jewish, writing: “Look at this Mark,” referencing a photo of the pair together. “How you gone kick me off instagram.”
West then tweeted to his 31.3 million followers: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
“Death con 3” appears to be an erroneous reference to the US military heightened alert status DEFCON 3.
The post was removed by Twitter for violating the platform’s rules, and a company spokesperson confirmed further enforcement action on Sunday afternoon, telling the JC: "The account in question has been locked due to a violation of Twitter’s policies."
However, the spokesperson declined to confirm the length of West's suspension from the platform; Twitter's enforcement rules say the action can last anything from 12 hours to seven days.
British Jewish comedian and Jewish Chronicle columnist David Baddiel wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “Kanye West’s threat to Jews is as ever based on a myth of Jewish power, a myth believed across the political spectrum. It lies at the heart of the Jews Don’t Count phenomenon: Jews are powerful so attacking them is punching up and concern for them in the face of it unnecessary.”
The latest outburst follows an appearance on Fox News on Thursday where he told controversial host Tucker Carlson that former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner brokered the Abraham Accords peace agreements between Israel and several Arab nations “to make money”.
West claimed that Kushner and his brother Josh, who are Jewish, were acting as a “handler” to former president Donald Trump, claiming that “they love to just look at me or look at Trump like we’re so crazy and that they’re the businessman.”
West has spoken openly in recent years about his mental health struggles and his diagnosis of bipolar disorder. However, Liora Rez - Executive Director of the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism- told Newsweek that his comments were “horrifying”.
"This gives him zero excuses to spew baseless and confusing messages about Jews, specifically when antisemitism has been set ablaze across America. Furthermore, his language about influence taps into an age-old antisemitic myth and stereotype about Jewish control."
"I don't think he understands when his wording is problematic, but we hope he deletes the Instagram posts," Rez said. "Jews have enough issues as it is right now without him furthering any type of negativity towards us and hatred."