The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee condemned Kanye West for what they described as a “pathetic and sad return” of anti-Semitic rhetoric after he was seen performing his new song “The Hawks” at a concert in Dubai, one of his first performances since a series of racist comments last year that tarnished his career and cost him his billionaire status.
Key Facts
Videos of West on stage at the Dubai concert showed him performing the controversial lyrics of the song “The Hawks,” which was released last Wednesday as his first new song since his image was severely damaged last year due to comments in which he praised Adolf Hitler and threatened violence against Jews.
The song appears to address public criticism with the phrase “How can I be anti-Semitic?” and then adds a vulgar description of having sex with a Jewish woman, with West seen dancing and rapping as he is accompanied by fellow musicians Chris Brown and Ty Dolla Sign.
Main Criticism
The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee spoke to TMZ about the performance and criticized West for using his platform “to spread hatred of Jews” amid a rising wave of anti-Semitism globally. Richard Hirschhaut, a spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, told TMZ that West’s recent anti-Semitic comments “seem particularly pathetic and sad” and said his attempts “to fuel the fire of anti-Semitism and promote such poison to millions of his followers, especially at such a fraught and dangerous time for the Jewish community, is unforgivable.”
Background
A series of bizarre public appearances, interviews, and social media posts from West began last October after the rapper wore a shirt bearing the phrase “White Lives Matter” – a slogan associated with a neo-Nazi group – at a Yeezy fashion show in Paris. Days later, he was restricted on Instagram for violating the app’s policies after posting a screenshot of a text conversation telling Sean “Diddy” Combs that he would use him “as an example to show the Jewish people who told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.” He was then temporarily suspended from Twitter for threatening to go “defcon 3 on Jews,” and a week later he said in an interview with Chris Cuomo that his comments suggested that “Black musicians signed to Jewish-owned record companies and those companies own them,” calling it a form of “modern-day slavery.” CNN reported last year that West wanted to name his 2018 album after Adolf Hitler, and several unnamed sources told reporters that he had a “fascination” with the Nazi leader. Six people who previously worked with West told NBC News that he made several pro-Hitler and Nazi comments, and in December he praised Hitler during an appearance on Infowars, the radio channel run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Interesting Facts
Blessed Studios in London stated that they would remove any tattoo of Kanye West for free after his appearance on Infowars. Blessed Studios wrote on Instagram, “Yeezy comes and Yeezy goes.”
Forbes Valuation
West fell off Forbes’ billionaire list last October after losing his deal with Adidas. It is estimated that the end of the partnership cost him $1.5 billion and he immediately lost his billionaire title – he was worth about $1.8 billion in 2021 and $2 billion in 2022. His net worth today is estimated at around $400 million.
Source: Forbes
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