Kanye West, now known as Ye, has been known for doing outlandish things throughout his career, but it seems he may have hit an all time low. West has been under fire for a while after he expressed his support for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but he has developed an even worse persona nowadays. Ye is known for saying bizarre things, which leads many people to ignore his statements, but he still has supporters who blindly follow and support him. So, when Ye started expressing anti-Semitic views, there was no surprise when people started defending and excusing his flagrant actions. 

In a podcast, Ye said that he “liked Hitler” and exchanged similar views with another public figure named Nick Fuentes, who also openly dislikes Jewish people and is a white nationalist known for hateful comments. Ye’s comments are just now being dissected, but his recent remarks are definitely not the first time he has expressed these horrendous opinions. 

Ye also previously enforced Jewish stereotypes when discussing Jewish people on his Twitter account. Ye stated “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” This implied that he was in a DEFCON alert state which is troubling considering the context. This tweet was seen as a threat and Ye’s tweet was consequently removed from the platform for hate speech and he was later suspended from Twitter. 

Some people pointed out that by temporarily suspending Ye’s Instagram and banning his Twitter account they are silencing him and not fulfilling the expectation of freedom of speech, and this is true. Technically, this does impair his right to freedom of expression which is why when Twitter was bought by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his account was subsequently reinstated. But, about a month after his account was restored, he was suspended again! Unfortunately for Ye, he keeps digging himself into a deeper hole. Before being suspended for the second time, Ye tweeted a photo of the Star of David and Swastika fused together. This tweet faced immediate backlash and rightfully terminated Ye’s account for the second time. Ye further supported that tweet in a conversation with Alex Jones, a Proud Boys member, by stating that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler” and that “there is good in every person.” Of the comments Ye has made recently these have to be the worst ones.

Ye has also been hinting at a possible run for president again, this was discussed in his last tweet where he stated “YE24.” This has caused turmoil in American Jewish communities who have been receiving hateful messages due to Ye’s actions and because of the growing tolerance to anti-Semitism in the United States. 

Although some influencers have publicly denounced Ye, there are still some who have expressed similar views, even if they have not been condemned to the same amount. For example, Kyrie Irving endorsed an anti-Semitic movie and refused to apologize or remove the endorsement. This resulted in his Nike collaboration being terminated and Irving being temporarily suspended from the Brooklyn Nets’ basketball team. This conflict has been resolved and Irving can play for the Nets again, but this controversy has definitely left a stain on his image. This goes to show that even though other celebrities have been openly anti-Semitic alongside Ye recently, none have had the same effect as the various comments Ye has made. West stated that he promotes love for everyone, but that does not line up with his remarks which has further counted against his credibility with past fans and the general public. 

Ye’s anti-Semitic spiral does not seem like it is going to end soon, but there is nothing he can do to recover at this point; Ye has not only upset Jewish people, but most respectable citizens as well. It is safe to say that Ye will probably not be winning the next election.