Kanye West, the legendary but increasingly controversial hip-hop artist has outdone himself recently with some anti-Semitic comments on social media that have seen him being booted from both Twitter and Instagram. But, what did he say exactly that caused such a stir?
Kanye – who actually legally changed his name to just ‘Ye’ – in 2021, first caused uproar through a post on his Instagram account that allegedly (it has now been deleted) suggested fellow musician and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was controlled by Jewish people.
Kanye also posted images of a text conversation between him and Diddy that showed Diddy saying he would, “show the Jews that told you to call me that no one can threaten of influence me.”
Ye’s posts have since been removed, but his Instagram account is still active. However, Kanye appears to have had a purge of his posts, as there are now just 12 on his account, 11 of which refer to a text message conversation Kanye had with Supreme creative director, Tremaine Emory. The conflict between the pair relates to former Louis Vuitton creative director, Virgil Abloh. But that’s a story for another time.
Since Kanye’s post about Diddy being controlled by Jewish people, Instagram not only removed the post, but imposed temporary restrictions on his account. This includes restrictions on posting, commenting and messaging.
Kanye took action into his own hands and jumped shipped to Twitter to post his first tweet since 2020. Ye tweeted, “I’m a bit sleep tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” We can only assume Kanye meant ‘DEFCON’ through his use of ‘death con’. DEFCON is a United States military readiness code, which is a combination of ‘defence’ and ‘condition’. 1 is the highest rating given to a perceived threat, and 5 is the lowest.
Kanye, clearly predicting his tweet would draw backlash, added he couldn’t be called anti-Semitic.
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Kanye West
Twitter – which was recently bought by Elon Musk for $44 billion – removed the tweet and locked Kanye’s account.
Since Kanye’s comments, The Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, California, has reached out to the Power rapper to invite him to the museum to “learn about the devastating impacts of hate speech,” Billboard reported.
In an Instagram story, the museum said, “Words matter and words have consequences Ye. We urge you to come visit us at Holocaust Museum L.A. to understand just how words can incite horrific violence and genocide.”
Kanye’s anti-Semitic comments overshadowed his other recent controversy, which saw him wear a shirt with the phrase “White Lives Matter,” emblazoned upon it at Paris Fashion Week.
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