Kanye West always manages to grab headlines for the wrong reasons. Over the past few weeks, the rapper has been in the news for making a series of anti-Semitic comments during interviews and on social media. Several top brands, including Adidas and Balenciaga, have cut ties with him over the ‘hateful and dangerous’ comments. Numerous fellow celebrities have also condemned his controversial behaviour.
How it all started
During the Paris Fashion Week, Kanye had held a private show for 100 guests, and he spotted wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt there. Many criticised the slogan and said it was a fascist call in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. As per hate group tracker, Southern Poverty Law Centre, White Lives Matter is a neo-Nazi group.
Kanye posted anti-Semitic comments on Twitter and Instagram on October 8, 2022, which violated their policies. In one of his posts, the rapper had said he would soon go ‘death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE’. He claimed they toyed with him and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposed their agenda. His post was later removed.
Prior to this, he accused record producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of being influenced by ‘the Jewish people’ on Instagram.
His post was slammed by the Anti-Defamation League, who called it ‘deeply troubling, dangerous, and anti-Semitic.’
Following this, Kanye, now known as Ye, was locked out of Twitter and Meta restricted his Instagram account.
Here’s a quick look at his other controversies.
Escorted out of Skechers office
A day after Adidas and Gap terminated their multi-million partnership with Kanye, the rapper showed up at Skechers office in Los Angeles, California presumably for a deal. However, he was escorted out of the office by two executives and a statement was released by the company saying he reached there ‘unannounced and without invitation’. They also said that they are not interested in collaborating with him due to his recent anti-Semitic comments.
Vs Taylor Swift
Kanye West’s feud with singer Taylor Swift began in 2009 at the MTV VMAs. Kanye had jumped on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech of Best Female Video Award for 'You Belong With Me'. He declared that the actual winner was Beyonce.
‘Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!’, Kanye said on stage.
Kanye West later apologized for his behaviour.
Vs Trump
At his Saint Pablo Tour concert in California, Kanye West was booed by the audience after he spoke of his support for Donald Trump. In his controversial speech, he admitted that while he did not vote in the US election, he ‘would have voted for Trump’.
He mentioned that there were a lot of things he actually liked about Trump’s campaign.
Kanye West was one of the first high-profile people to visit former president-elect Donald Trump in December 2016. He eventually contested against Trump as an independent candidate for the Presidential elections in 2020, and lost.
Kanye in debt
Did you know that the rapper was neck deep in debt in 2016? He made headlines when he requested Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion into his ‘ideas’ on Twitter, because he was $53 million in debt.
Addressed Kris Jenner as 'Kris Jong-Un'
Kanye West stirred a controversy on Twitter during his presidential run when he referred to his mother-in-law Kris Jenner as ‘Kris Jong-Un’ in a series of now-deleted tweets. He was talking about his bond with his mother-in-law, Kris Jenner, and his wife, Kim Kardashian. The rapper said, ‘They tried to fly in with 2 doctors to 51/50 me. I been trying to get divorced since Kim met with Meek at the Warldolf for ‘prison reform.’ I got 200 more to go. This my lady tweet of the night … Kris Jong-Un. Lil baby my favorite rapper but won’t do a song wit me.’
Vs former wife Kim Kardashian
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian filed for divorce in 2021 after years of romance and four children together. Months later, the rapper made multiple attempts to reconcile with his ex-wife. Earlier this year, Kanye addressed his decision to post private conversations with his wife across social media platforms on several occasions, which prompted Kim to question why he can’t keep their texts private. He said that his interaction with Kim was perceived as harassment by many, but he’s still learning in real-time and doesn’t have all the answers.
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