By Izayah Morgan
Staff Writer
Kanye West, better known by his rapper name Ye, made a slew of antisemitic comments earlier in the year.
On Twitter, he stated, “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.”
Last week he had dinner with former President Donald Trump and known white supremacist, Nazi, Holocaust denier, and pro-segregationist, Nick Fuentes. At the dinner, Kanye proposed the idea that Trump should run as his vice president in the 2024 election.
Kanye made national headlines once again for his antisemitic comments voiced on the Alex Jones show “Info Wars.” When Alex Jones said how he had no love for Nazis, Kanye interjected with “I like Hitler.” He continued to make later comments stating “Every human being has brought something of value, especially Hitler.” Which even stunned the controversial figure, Alex Jones.
As an African American male, who grew up on Kanye’s music such as “Graduation,” “808s & Heartbreaks,” “Ye,” and “Kids See Ghosts,” I am extremely disgusted by Kanye’s comments. Kanye has made music that has connected with millions of young Black Americans such as myself. However, this does not make him immune from criticism and cancellation for his comments.
Jewish people have a population of 14.8 million worldwide. Kanye has 32 million followers on
Twitter, 49 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and 18.5 million followers on Instagram. His
social media and streaming numbers pull in more eyes than the entire Jewish population
worldwide.
What Kanye says on a public platform has a direct influence on how Jewish people
are seen worldwide by the millions of people who listen to him. Kanye’s antisemitic comments
may normalize antisemitism in others.
Some solutions to this issue are as follows.
Stop supporting his music, as you are supporting a man who has made countless anti-Black and antisemitic comments on his public social media and during interviews. For example, blocking his music on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal will help from putting more money in his pocket and stop the songs from appearing in a playlist.
Stop buying his products. Adidas has already dropped him from his Yeezy deal. However, he
owns 100% of Yeezy, which means eventually he will be back making shoes, just not under
Adidas. It is important not to support this by not buying anything Yeezy branded.
Stop engaging with any of his public accounts, this includes stopping following his Instagram
and Twitter. Although understanding his comments allows people to see the issue with them, for
people to understand why his comments are dangerous, it requires others to explain them to show why they are problematic. To do this, post on your social media why these comments harm the Jewish community.
By supporting him, it continues to provide him a platform and audience that he can
depend on to listen to these antisemitic and internalized racist comments which will continue to fuel hatred between minority communities.
It is important to hold these people in power accountable or the cycle of violence and hatred will continue to happen.