Ye, previously named Kanye West, has been the center of attention during the past year, due to his recent remarks regarding antisemitism, supporting the “White Lives Matter” movement and being Pro-life.
Ye has had many public outbursts, mainly on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Because of his vulgar language and disrespectful comments, Twitter and Instagram have restricted his accounts on and off throughout the past few months.
“I feel hurt and sad that one of my favorite artists has no sympathy. It makes me feel different when I listen to his music now…I hate how he has such a huge following and promotes hurtful ideas,” said Amara Nadeem, a fourth-year student studying public policy.
Ye lost numerous brand deals and partnerships because of his antisemitic remarks, a few being with: Balenciaga, Gap and Adidas.
Adidas wrote in their public statement, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
On Alex Jones’ show on Dec. 1, Ye said, “I see good things about Hitler…I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.”
“The Jewish media has made us feel like the Nazis and Hitler have never offered anything of value to the world,” Ye said.
On Dec. 1, Ye tweeted a picture of the Star of David, but with a swastika inside of it. Hours later, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, suspended his account.
This was not the beginning of his controversy. Ye’s recent controversy began on Oct. 3, when he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt during a Paris Fashion Week Show. Following this, Ye wore this shirt again during his appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
On Oct. 7, Ye began making antisemitic posts, one post on Twitter saying, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He went further to say, “I actually can’t be Anti Semitic to because black people are actually Jew.”
Due to his recent statements and racist posts, Ye has lost a large amount of his following.
Julia Goldenberg, a third-year student at the University of Maryland, said, “Kanye’s antisemitism makes me feel unsafe since he has so much influence over people. I used to listen to his music a lot and be fond of all of his merch and clothing but now I struggle with it since the messages he is sending to everyone everywhere.”