Months After My “Should the World Go South on Kanye West?” article was published, the World went South on Kanye West.
By | Gabrial Pollon
The self-destructive downward spiral and destructive tendencies of a disgraced music icon continues.
Kanye West, officially known as Ye, is obviously no stranger to controversy. In fact, he put himself in controversial situations so much, he’s made it into the Notre Dame Observer before due to questionable public actions.
However, the word “controversy” now feels like an understatement after his recent statements, which have led him to be completely cancelled and disliked by almost anyone with a pulse. But how did we get here? Let’s rewind.
Infamously a few years ago, West stated “slavery is a choice” and “racism is a dated concept” – and more recently, included “White Lives Matter” shirts in his fashion line show on October third. (It should not be taken lightly that the “White Lives Matter” movement, according to Southern Poverty Law Centre Hate Tracker, is registered as a Neo-Nazi group.)
While this caused many to turn their backs on him, including longtime fans, the backlash and fallout seems relatively and interestingly minor compared to what was to come.
Society and social media as a whole only became more hostile towards the once-beloved rapper escalated after he stated George Floyd, whose tragic death triggered the BLM movement, was killed from a drug overdose and not police.
There were no serious economic consequences for West, though, until his anti-Semitism was thrust into the spotlight- as always, through the words of his own mouth.
On October 8th, he tweeted a heavily hateful and threatening statement about Jewish people.
…When I wake up, I’m going Death Con 3 on Jewish people. The funny thing is, I can’t be anti-Semitic because black people are actually Jew also… you guys [Jews] have toyed with me and blackballed anyone, whoever opposes your agenda.
Kanye West
This post got him banned from Twitter and other social media platforms. On Instagram, he accused other celebrities of being a puppet of “the Jewish people.” On a podcast, West continued his attack by blaming “Jewish media” and “Jewish Zionists,” for many issues in the world, claiming that “Jewish people have owned the black voice” and that they will “milk [black artists] until we die.”
He also shared a conspiracy theory that Jewish higher-ups in the industry started the MeToo movement to cause disarray.
This barely covers all the anti-Semitic things he has said and done of late. Because of these actions, every brand deal that matters has dropped him, including Balenciaga, Adidas, JPMorgan Chase, Vogue, Gap and Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies.
These losses have caused West to lose billionaire status, which he has enjoyed since 2020.
In the last article I wrote about Ye, I suggested that people should be empathetic to the serious mental health struggles he’s facing and remember that everything he says can be symptoms from recent manic episodes.
But there is absolutely no excuse and no state of mental illness that exists that can justify his destructive and despicable actions towards multiple minority groups, including his own. He has emboldened, encouraged and brought Neo-Nazi hate groups into the limelight, and nothing will ever be able to change that.
The world has officially gone south on Kanye West, and it’s about time.