On February 9, during the Super Bowl, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, aired an advertisement. According to the New York Times, the advertisement directed users to his website, yeezy.com, where they were greeted with a singular item: a $20 white t-shirt, with nothing on it but a black swastika.
Previously, Ye’s website sold a wide selection of shoes and other clothing items. Ye has since taken down the shirt, but his message of antisemitic hate remains emblazoned upon the American consciousness.
Ye has established a long history of making antisemitic remarks. In 2022, he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating he was “going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE … You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
This antisemetic comment, along with others, according to The Guardian, led major brands that had previously collaborated with Yeezy, such as Adidas and Gap, to cease their collaborations with the rapper.
While Ye’s speech is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech,” the concept of freedom of speech is completely separate from the concept of freedom from consequences implemented by society.
Adidas’ and Gap’s separation from Yeezy was a step in the right direction, and a mass societal condemnation of Ye’s antisemitism is needed in order to stop people, particularly young people who see Ye, who said in a 2022 interview with right-wing commentator Alex Jones that he “sees good things about Hitler.”
According to Newsweek, after the Super Bowl ad and subsequent sale of shirts emblazoned with swastikas, Ye took to X, posting a string of antisemitic remarks on the platform. He self-identified as a Nazi, and once again praised the genocidal dictator Adolf Hitler.
According to the Anti-Defamation League’s director, Jonathan Greenblatt, over thirty antisemitic incidents have been directly tied to Ye’s antisemitic tirades. The Anti-Defamation League is the world’s leading organization with a focus on combating antisemitism.
Greenblatt urges the public to “call Ye's hate-filled public rant for what it really is: a sad attempt for attention that uses Jews as a scapegoat.”
Greenblatt goes on to say that his antisemitic speech “does get attention because Kanye has a far-reaching platform on which to spread his antisemitism and hate. Words matter. And as we’ve seen too many times before, hateful rhetoric can prompt real-world consequences.”
I urge the reader to combat antisemitism such as that which Ye espouses by educating themselves about the surge in antisemitism, both in the United States and around the world, and on both sides of the political aisle.
I also urge the reader to not only educate themselves on the subject, but to educate others about the issue of antisemitism – to condemn rhetoric like Ye’s when they come across it, either face-to-face or on the internet.
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