The consequences of Kanye West’s antisemitic comments
By Barrett Burnham ‘23
Kanye West in 2009 - Courtesy of David Shankbone
Content Warning: Anti-Semitic and racist comments and ideas.
In the past months, Kanye West has placed himself at the center of an antisemitic movement that caused him to lose billions of dollars from brand deals and potential collaborators practically overnight.
Kanye West has a history of controversies dating back to 2005 when he infamously said “George Bush doesn't care about black people” regarding the former president’s mishandling of Hurricane Katrina relief.
Since then, he has been consistently inconsistent with his controversies. For example, in 2015, Kanye said “Racism is a dated concept”, but in 2018, he said that the 400+ years of slavery was a choice by the enslaved people. However, none of these prior controversies came close to the amount of backlash that Kanye has received from his recent antisemitic comments.
On October 2nd, 2022, Kanye West joined Fox News’ Tucker Carlson for an interview after his controversial “White Lives Matter” clothing debuted during Paris Fashion Week. During this interview, Kanye made several antisemitic claims, for example saying that Jewish people are actually Black people, referring to Jewish people as “the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are.”
Another controversial belief he holds is the idea that Planned Parenthood is a collaboration between the Ku Klux Klan and Margaret Sanger to “control the Jew population.”
After these statements, he claimed that it is impossible for him to be fairly described as antisemitic, as he believes that as a black person, he is actually of Jewish descent. These statements are clearly antisemitic, promoting the idea that Jewish people control the world, a negative stereotype.
The day after the Tucker Carlson interview, Kanye made a post on Twitter stating he was going to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” The term “death con 3” is thought to be a muddling of DEFCON, an acronym used by the US military forces to convey readiness to attack. The statement was viewed as a threat of violence, which lead to Twitterand many other social media platforms banning Kanye.
The combination of these various controversies caused many of the brands and companies that previously worked with Kanye to void their contracts with him. The biggest loss that Kanye faced was his deal with Adidas, worth 250 million dollars. Similarly, he was forced to cut ties with his talent agency, GAP, JP Morgan, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, and even his legal team.
Combined, these losses cost Kanye 1.6 billion dollars.
Kanye seemed to take the damage lightly, proclaiming “I LOST 2 BILLION DOLLARS IN ONE DAY AND I'M STILL ALIVE” on his Instagram account. While he may still be alive, his public image has taken a massive hit, as many hate groups around the world have begun to use Kanye’s words to support their hate crimes. Antisemitism is already a very pressing issue in the USA, and Kanye’s public support of it has increased its growth exponentially.
Kanye West is a very influential artist, having millions of fans around the world that love his music. By preaching his beliefs to his millions of fans, he is further spreading antisemitic rhetoric that is already at a dangerous level throughout the country.
While Kanye West may have at one point been a creative genius, there is no excuse for these racist and antisemitic statements.