I haven’t listened to a Ye song since 2022. Once one of my favorite artists, he no longer populates my personal playlists after I erased every trace of him from my Spotify app.
Formally known as Kanye West, Ye has been openly antisemitic since 2022. This obvious, sickening behavior prompted me to eliminate his work from my life. Yet Ye continues these antisemitic actions, which draw attention to himself and his beliefs.
In October 2022, Ye tweeted, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
This tweet marked the beginning of Ye’s antisemitic rampage via Twitter (now known as X) and elsewhere. He has directly denied antisemitism, claiming it to be “just some bullshit Jewish people made up to protect their bullshit.”
On Feb. 10, Ye’s X account was deactivated – with a retained 33 million followers. That’s more than twice the global
Jewish population of around 15.7 million in 2023. This suggests that, when considering Ye’s X fanbase, there are at least two antisemites per every Jew.
33 million people continued to support Ye after years of blatantly idolizing Hitler, praising the Nazis, and encouraging antisemitic stereotypes. 33 million people saw his disgustingly dystopian behavior and ignored it entirely.
Below is a list of some of Ye’s antisemitic quotes:
“I’m a Nazi”
“I’m going to normalize talking about Hitler”
“Hitler was soooo fresh”
“I LOVE HITLER. NOW WHAT BITCHES?”
“ANY JEWISH PERSON THAT DOES BUSINESS WITH ME NEEDS TO KNOW I DON’T LIKE OR TRUST ANY JEWISH PERSON AND THIS IS COMPLETELY SOBER WITH NO HENNESY… I’M NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS”
“Stop dissing the Nazis”
“I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me”
“I prefer my kids knew Hannukah from Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering”
After telling people that I no longer listen to Ye’s music, they often respond with, “Yeah… I like his music, though, so…” or, “But you’ve got to separate the art from the artist.”
Cancel culture, though often taken to the extreme, has fallen unacceptably short in this instance. Why have numerous celebrities and influencers lost everything – their jobs, money, and careers – after their inappropriate behavior, yet Ye has maintained immense popularity? Popular country musician Zach Bryan, for example, experienced extreme backlashes when accused of “emotional gaslighting.” With the same standards as those concerning other forms of hatred, Ye would’ve been canceled years ago.
This is a duality that should not be tolerated.
Promptly after his first public antisemitic comments in 2022, I eliminated anything related to Ye with zero hesitation. There is no reason that millions of other people should continue to support him in his music and merchandise. In this case, separating the “art” from the “artist” ultimately benefits the artist, especially when there’s a plethora of other artists to support with respectable values.
By supporting Ye, his fans are defending the antisemitic, misogynistic, and racist systems he believes in.
I have despised Ye for years, yet my hatred continues growing. His Super Bowl 59 commercial led its viewers to his official Yeezy website, selling a singular item – a T-shirt with a large Swastika on it, sold for $20.
Many likely purchased the item before being shut down several days later. After all, Ye has 21 million followers on Instagram, 67.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and 33 million followers on X (his account was reactivated shortly after its removal). This is a disturbing number of fans considering his conspicuous disregard for the very principles of society.
On Feb. 7, an American Jewish Committee (AJC) statement responding to Ye’s recent antisemitism said, “Hate, left unchecked, only multiplies.” I agree wholeheartedly.
The lack of control regarding Ye’s behavior, plus his immense fanbase, makes a dangerous pair – one that results in an unhealthy amount of antisemitism increasing worldwide. Though sadly not unprecedented, the world remains unsafe for Jews. The prevailing disregard for Ye’s actions only exacerbates further antisemitism, posing an even greater threat to.
Racism, sexism, and homophobia, along with other forms of hatred, generally have a zero-tolerance standard in 2025. Antisemitism, however, is constantly ignored and dismissed.
I am stunned that this has to be taught in 2025, but evidently, it does; hatred should never be ignored regardless of who is targeted. Racist comments should be treated as sexist comments, which should be treated as those that are homophobic, antisemitic, and otherwise distasteful comments – no hate speech should be condoned.
It’s time to cancel Kanye. It’s been time to cancel Kanye.
