Kanye West, otherwise known as Ye, first gained recognition in the music industry as a producer before launching a highly successful hip-hop career. He made his debut as a rapper in 2004 with the album The College Dropout and solidified his status as a top artist.
Over time, West has won 24 GRAMMY Awards as an artist. He’s also known for his impact on the fashion industry, his former marriage to reality TV star and socialite Kim Kardashian, and never-ending controversies.
West’s controversial behavior began to come to light with his infamous feud with singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. During the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), while Swift was giving an acceptance speech after winning the award for Best Female Video for her hit song “You Belong With Me,” West stormed up on stage and claimed Beyoncé should have won the award. After much backlash, West apologized in a post on his blog.
In 2015, the feud between Swift and West seemed to have died down, as the singer presented West with his Video Vanguard Award at the MTV VMAs that year. However, in 2016, the rapper released the song “Famous,” which included lyrics that seemed to target Swift: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b**ch famous.”
West’s controversies are not just with other celebrities. He has a rich past with public, hateful comments. In October 2022, it was reported that his partnership with Adidas was “under review” due to his wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his “YZYSZN9” Paris Fashion Week show and antisemitic remarks he made on social media.
After these instances, Adidas launched an internal investigation after several employees of the company alleged inappropriate workplace conduct from West. Since then, other brands have distanced themselves from working with the rapper.
In 2023, West apologized to the Jewish community in Hebrew in an Instagram post. His apology came less than two weeks after he made inflammatory comments in Las Vegas while promoting his album Vultures, which would be released the following year. During the event, he made controversial statements about Jewish influence and compared himself to both Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler.
West seems to be unfaithful to his apology, however. Earlier this month, he was reported facing condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee after tweeting an antisemitic rant on X. In a series of posts, he stated “I’m a Nazi,” praised Hitler as “so fresh,” and boasted about Jewish people refusing to work with him. He also asserted that he is “never apologizing” for his comments about the Jewish community.
West is also known for his relationship with his current wife, Bianca Censori. Recently, The Economic Times released an article titled, “Is Bianca Censori trapped in an abusive marriage with Kanye West? ‘forced naked parade’ and ‘humiliations’ spark alarming concerns.” This report comes after the couple’s controversial stunt at this year’s 67th GRAMMY Awards.
During the GRAMMYs this year, Censori and West unexpectedly showed up on the red carpet, where Censori dropped the coat she was wearing, revealing her nude body in an “invisible dress.” The Economic Times highlights possible emotional or psychological abuse by West, as this is not the first stunt he’s pulled regarding his wife’s wardrobe.
But why does West have such erratic behavior? In 2016, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and hasn’t been afraid of being publicly open about it, but a lot of people have had something to say about this.
After his unplanned outburst, which included mentions of U.S. President Donald Trump, at the end of his guest musical appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL)’s 44th season premiere in 2018, actor and comedian Pete Davidson appeared on the show’s “Weekend Update” segment to voice how he felt about the situation and West’s mental illness struggles.
Recently, however, West claimed he was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. He stated that he has autism, and that’s why he stopped taking his medicine.
After all the controversy and more, Kanye West still holds a massive following and continues to stay in the limelight as a well-accomplished and influential rapper in the industry; so, I ask again: how far is too far when it comes to his actions?
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