Death Kan 3: The Consequences of Kanye West’s Anti-Semitism

Marko Frchkoski and Ryan Kufeld, Staff Writers

Recently, popular rapper Kanye West has made comments targeting Jewish people. 

On Oct. 3, 2022, he wore a shirt which read the phrase “White Lives Matter.” This saying is originally from a neo-nazi and white supremacy group by the same name. 

West continued his anti-semetic rhetoric on Instagram and Twitter. 

“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” he tweeted. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semetic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone who opposes your agenda.”

Not only did this cause people to be upset, but also a lot of drama with his sponsors, such as Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap. They have since cut ties with West. 

He stayed mostly silent about his lost partnership with Adidas, though it reportedly caused him to lose $1.5 billion. Now, he is worth roughly $400 million dollars .

West first made an appearance on Forbes’ ‘billionaire list’ in April 2022 and prided himself on his self-made status, most of which hinged on Yeezy’s successful partnership with the sportswear company.   

While Adidas was slower to drop the musician, they eventually gave in to calls and made a statement on Oct. 25, 2022 which said the company “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.” 

Other companies have abandoned Kanye, such as JP Morgan Chase, talent agency CAA and fashion kingpin Vogue.

The general public also feel betrayed by West’s actions, like junior Joshua Einhorn.

“I feel sad, I feel scared that something may happen to somebody I know,” said Einhorn, who is Jewish.

Einhorn believes every Jewish person is negatively affected by these antisemetic comments, rather than just the jewish people who the comments were initially targeted at.

“I feel like we’re a community, so if he says something to one of us, he says it to all of us”. 

Junior Ella-Sophie Ballard, who is not a member of the Jewish community, also shared her opinion on the matter.

“He has been problematic lately, especially with his anti-semetic comments, it’s been pretty wild,” she said. “This entire situation makes me question what free speech really is.”