Trigger warning: explicit antisemitism
If you give an antisemite an X account, he’s going to post a bunch of antisemitic screeds.
No, this is not the opening to the worst children’s book in the world. It’s the reality that we all collectively lived in this past weekend when Ye, aka Kanye West, took to X, aka Twitter, on Friday for a days-long antisemitic tirade that only ended this morning. His account, with its 32 million followers, was either banned or he himself deleted it. This is the rapper’s first antisemitic tirade on the social media platform since 2022, when he made comments that he was going to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and propagating the conspiracy theory that Jews have a secret cabal of power over the entertainment industry and world events.
Following that 2022 diatribe, West lost a $2 billion-per-year partnership with Adidas (which, ironically, was founded by a Nazi) and was banned from the site. His account was reinstated in 2023, however, when tech giant and Nazi salute (?) enthusiast Elon Musk bought the site. In March 2023, Ye posted on Instagram that he “like[s] Jewish people again” after watching Jonah Hill in the movie “21 Jump Street.”
The good feelings clearly haven’t stuck, however. This past weekend, Ye explicitly praised Adolf Hitler and even advertised selling a swastika t-shirt both on his X account and via a Super Bowl ad. He also took time to espouse misogyny, specifically the idea that he has “dominion” over his wife Bianca Censori, and to defend alleged abuser Diddy.
It’s a lot to unpack. Here’s a brief recap of the most unsettling antisemitic statements Ye shared on Twitter/X this weekend before his account went down:
“I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT B*****ES”
“I’M A NAZI”
“I’m going to normalize talking about hitler”
“Hitler was soooo fresh”
“IM NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS”
“AMY JEWISH PERSON THAT DOES BUSINESS WITH ME NEEDS TO KNOW I DONT LIKE OR TRUST ANY JEWISH PERSON AMD THIS IS COMPLETELY SOBER WITH NO HENNESY”
Antisemitism is “just some bulls–t Jewish people made up to protect their bulls–t”
“JEWS ARE ARROGANT AND THINK THEY CAN SPEAK TO ANYONE THEY WANT ANY KIND OF WAY THAT’S WHY EVERY JEWISH WIFE IS A BITCH”
“JEWS WERE BETTER AS SLAVES YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR JEWS IN THEIR PLACE AND MAKE THEM INTO YOUR SLAVES”
“I LOVE WHEN JEWISH PEOPLE COME TO ME AND SAY THEY CANT WORK WITH ME ANYMORE ITS MY FAV”
“KENDRICK [Lamar] IS BEING USED BY THESE WHITE PEOPLE AND JEWS AND SO AM I.”
“JEWISH PEOPLE ACTUALLY HATE WHITE PEOPLE AND USE BLACK PEOPLE”
“SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWISH AND I DON’T TRUST ANY OF THEM”
“THE JEWISH WIVES ARE THE TRUE KINGS OF THEIR HOUSE OLD”
“YOOOOO KNOW ONE HAS QUIT SO FAR AND I HAVE A LOT OF GAY PEOPLE THAT WORK FOR ME AND A LOT OF JEWS AND A COUPLE GAY JEWS THAT HAVENT REACHED THEIR FULL GAY JEW POTENTIAL IF THEYRE STILL WORKING FOR A ME EVERY TWEET I PUT UP I THINK WELP SOMEBODYS GONNA LEAVE”
“THERE’S A SWEET JEWISH NAMED JILL WITH THE BEST TASTE THAT LIVES IN NEW YORK SENDING LOVE TO YOU FROM ME AND MY WIFE I AM SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF MY WIFE SINCE I HAVE DOMINION OVER HER WHICH IS QUITE DIFFERENT THAN THE DYNAMIC IVE SEEN AT EVERY SHABBAT IVE BEEN TO”
“YALL GONE STOP TELLING ME TAYLOR SWITCH IS JEWISH THIS JEWISH LADY IS CLEARLY NOT JEWISH”
“JEWISH WIVES WEAR THE PANTS AND APPARENTLY THEY WEAR THE GREASY ASS JERRY CURLS TOO.”
“JEWISH WIVES RUN OVER THEIR HUSBANDS WHAT DOES THE TORAH HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?”
…So yeah. It’s all hateful and disgusting. But credit where credit is due, Ye’s tweets about “Jewish wives” are a new and fresh innovation in the field of antisemitism.
During West’s tweet spree, organizations like the ADL and the AJC condemned Ye’s antisemitic statements. Notably, Jewish actor David Schwimmer took to Instagram to call out Twitter/X owner Elon Musk. (Coincidentally, West was suspended from Instagram in 2022, which inspired him to tweet “Who do you think created cancel culture?” at Meta’s Jewish CEO Mark Zuckerberg.) “We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk,” he wrote in a post. “Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”
He added, “Silence is complicity.”
For what it’s worth, Elon Musk hasn’t been totally silent on the matter. On Friday, per the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Musk “posted a screenshot of his platform’s ‘trending topics’ including Kanye West and wrote, ‘We are on the most entertaining timeline,’ followed by a laughing emoji. In his last tweet before his account disappeared, Kanye wrote, “I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”
He added, “It was like an Ayahuasca trip.”
