Kanye West’s latest abhorrent, antisemitic rant on social media is one of many instances where the rapper has exhibited hateful views towards the Jewish community.

In October 2022 when he posted that he was ‘going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE’, adding ‘you guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda’. Two months later, in an interview with the right-wing pundit Alex Jones, he said, ‘I see good things about Hitler.’

‘Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,’ he continued. ‘[Nazis] did some good things, too… There’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler.’

This week, the rapper went on another venomous tirade on X where he wrote, among other things, ‘Jewish people actually hate white people and use black people’, ‘I’m a Nazi’ and ‘I love Hitler’, before deleting his posts and his account.

West also aired a Super Bowl advert last week, which appeared in some markets and directed viewers to his online store, Yeezy. It was later found that West was only selling a $20 t-shirt featuring a black swastika on his website. It has since been shut down and West has been dropped by his talent agency.

On 10 February, Daniel McCartney of 33 & West wrote in a statement that he had cut ties with West ‘effective immediately… due to his harmful and hateful remarks that myself nor 33 & West can stand for’.

The following day, a former staff member for West’s company, who has been anonymised as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against him in Los Angeles superior court, alleging wrongful termination and gender and religious discrimination. The woman, who is Jewish, alleges a series of incidents between January and June 2024, including that West fired her after sending her a text that read ‘Hail [sic] Hitler’.

Another alleged text read, ‘Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler.’ The complainant’s lawyer described ‘a relentless and deliberate campaign of antisemitism and misogyny’ under West’s leadership. The rapper has not commented on the lawsuit.

Unsurprisingly, West’s recent hate speech has been met with widespread criticism from other celebrities. Actor Hillary Duff’s husband, Matthew Koma, for one, has launched his own t-shirt line with the message ‘F**k Ye’ printed in block capitals across the front.

Actor Isla Fisher took to Instagram to write, ‘Hey friends, can you please unfollow Kanye? Did you know this is the only thing for sale on his website after placing a Super Bowl commercial? F**k this monster forever. No tolerance for this shit.’

However, in further cause for alarm, several A-list celebrities including David Schwimmer, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Scarlett Johansson and Sacha Baron Cohen have been depicted as responding to West’s antisemitism in a viral video by wearing a t-shirt featuring a middle figure with a swastika in the middle and the name ‘Kanye’. It ends with the words ‘Enough is Enough’ and ‘Join the Fight Against Antisemitism’. However, the protest video was generated using artificial intelligence and it is unclear whether the creator sought permission from any of the stars involved.

Johansson, for her part, has already objected to the deepfake video. ‘It has been brought to my attention by family members and friends, that an AI-generated video featuring my likeness, in response to an antisemitic view, has been circulating online and gaining traction. I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind,’ she wrote. ‘But I also firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by AI is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it. We must all call out the misuse of AI, no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality.’

Meanwhile Schwimmer, who is also depicted in the video, made a plea to X boss Elon Musk to remove West’s X account, writing, ‘We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr Musk.

‘Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X,’ he continued. ‘That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.’

Musk did take action against West – but not because of his antisemitic posts. He did so because West had been posting links to pornographic videos on his account. ‘Given what he has posted, his account is now classified as NSFW [not safe for work]. You should not be seeing that anymore,’ Musk explained. Later that day, West deactivated his account, but not before thanking Musk personally for allowing him the space to share his views. ‘I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent,’ the rapper wrote.

West’s use of the word ‘vent’ indicates what little awareness he has of the gravitas of his comments, or their wider impact. Given his well-documented history of antisemitism, his remarks are an unequivocal affront to the Jewish community and should not be allowed to go unchecked.

They also entirely invalidate the apology he offered Jewish people in December 2023. In a statement posted in Hebrew on his Instagram account at the time, he wrote: ‘I sincerely apologise to the Jewish community. It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.’

Those words carry no longer carry any weight. Unfortunately, as West attested himself, his recent outburst on X is unlikely to be the last, especially following Musk’s decision to significantly soften his policies surrounding free speech. The platform has cut back its moderation teams, disbanded trust and safety initiatives and has withdrawn from EU co-regulatory documents.

X’s help centre reads, ‘You may not attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or serious disease.’ It also states that ‘defending and respecting the user’s voice is one of our core values at X’.

Evidently, these policies are not fit for purpose. Musk has created an environment where posts like West’s go unconstrained and AI-generated videos are free to go viral – and the consequences are both extensive and deeply concerning. Social media feels like an increasingly dangerous place for anyone to exist, let alone those in targeted minority groups.