Advertisers are being urged to drop rapper Kanye West over his recent anti-Semitic remarks that have drawn the ire of many, including conservative commenter Ben Shapiro and Jewish advocacy groups.
In recent weeks, West, now known by the name Ye, has made numerous comments in interviews and on social media that have landed the popular rapper in hot water and led to blowback on Instagram and Twitter.
After much backlash, the 45-year-old, who in recent years has touted his Christian faith and even held “Sunday Service” gospel events, has seemingly both doubled down on his remarks and apologized.
In an interview last week with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, West stated that the “underground Jewish mafia” is targeting him and he doesn’t believe in the term “anti-Semitic.”
That interview came days after West made similar remarks during a long appearance on the “Drink Champs” podcast.
In a since-deleted Oct. 8 tweet, West declared: “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,” he wrote. “[A]lso You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
During a recent appearance on Piers Morgan’s talk show, West apologized for his “death con” comment, stating that he wrote the remark from a place of “hurt” as a victim of “trauma.”
Daily Wire founder Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, likened West’s remarks to Nazi propaganda, noting that the musician is promoting a series of conspiracies about Jewish people.
Shapiro responded to West’s latest statements, in which the rapper claimed the term “anti-Semitism” has been used to allow people in the music industry to “get away with murder sometimes,” likening the industry to “modern-day slavery.”
“It’s just pure unbridled anti-Semitism,” Shapiro said. “There’s just no other way to put it, there’s no other way to read it. End of story.”
Shapiro claimed that West is spouting “Der Stürmer-type anti-Semitism,” referring to the Nazi-era newspaper, adding that “nobody should be defending that.” Shapiro also noted that West is an “unstable human being,” suggesting the rapper’s comments may be related to mental illness.
“He is promoting every conspiracy theory about Jews that you can think of, from ‘Jews control the media,’ to ‘Jews somehow perverted my wife sexually,'” Shapiro said.
The “Drink Champs” podcast, hosted by Noreaga and DJ EFN, features the pair interviewing musicians while drinking excessive amounts of liquor. While on the show, West claimed that his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and comedian Pete Davidson “have sex by the fireplace to honor their grandmother. It’s Jewish Zionists that’s about that life.”
Shapiro believes one of the main issues with West’s anti-Semitism is his broad targeting of Jews.
The commentator disagreed with the rapper’s defenders, saying how they claim that West is only criticizing Jewish individuals.
“Here is the difference between anti-Semitism and naming just a person who happens to be Jewish — that you’re blaming all the Jewish people,” Shapiro said.
“If I see a black guy and I’m like, ‘Man, that particular guy really ticks me off,’ that’s not racism. If I say, ‘That guy’s black, all black people are terrible,’ that’s racism. Kanye West does the latter thing.”
The Israel-based International Legal Forum, comprised of over 4,000 lawyers and activists worldwide, sent a letter to apparel giant Adidas urging the brand to sever ties with West.
“Earlier this month, Kanye threatened to go ‘Death Con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,'” the letter explains, according to JNS. “He has since gone on an unhinged anti-Semitic tirade, including blaming ‘Jewish media’ for various grievances, saying ‘Jewish people have owned the black voice’ and that ‘the Jewish community, especially in the music industry, they’ll take us and milk us till we die.'”
Amid a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the U.S. in recent years, the Jewish advocacy organization Anti-Defamation League warns that West’s comments “have been embraced by antisemitic extremist groups.”
“During an October 16 sermon for the Nation of Islam’s annual Holy Day of Atonement commemoration, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad referenced Ye’s recent remarks,” a post from the ADL’s Center on Extremism reads. “Extremist Black Hebrew Israelite sects also praised Ye over the weekend for helping spread their teachings to more people. Other extremist groups, including White Lives Matter and the Goyim Defense League, have leveraged Ye’s comments to further their own agendas and inspire new propaganda campaigns.”
In an interview last week with The New York Post’s Page Six, West discussed the various brands refusing to associate with him in light of his remarks on social media. That same day, JP Morgan Chase gave West a November deadline to find a new bank to hold his company Yeezy.
“Hey, if you call somebody out for bad business, that means you’re being anti-Semitic,” West said. “I feel happy to have crossed the line of that idea so we can speak openly about things like getting canceled by a bank.”
The weekend before JP Morgan Chase dropped West, the musician shared a screenshot of a text with rapper Diddy on Instagram, saying he would use him “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”
Instagram locked West out of his account for the remark, and he was later locked out of Twitter for posting another anti-Semitic statement.
As Vice reported last week, deleted segments of West’s interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson earlier this month show the rapper making several derogatory statements about Jewish people. The Fox News host did not appear to correct West for his remarks, claiming at the end that the star is “not crazy” and “worth listening to.”
In one unaired portion of the interview, West said he would prefer his kids knew about Chanukah instead of Kwanzaa, claiming the former comes with “some financial engineering.”
“When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are,” West said in another unaired statement.
Last month, West appeared to compare himself to Moses, the biblical figure who received God’s Ten Commandments and led the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt.
“No one asked Moses how much he slept,” West wrote on his Instagram story, with the post displaying white text over a black background. While it’s uncertain what West was referring to, some of his fans believe the post was in reference to the rapper having launched a Christian private school in Southern California.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com.
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