Kanye West apologizes to Jewish community for ‘outburst’ — in Hebrew
In an Instagram post, the rapper vowed to work on himself and ‘promote unity’
Kanye West. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
By PJ Grisar December 26, 2023
Rapper, entrepreneur and sometime Hitler apologist Kanye West had a belated Christmas present for Jews early Tuesday: an apology written entirely in Hebrew.
On Instagram, West (who has legally changed his name to Ye) wrote — in Hebrew that appears to be more advanced than what a simple effort with Google translate might yield — that he was sorry to the Jewish community for his “outburst.” Since October 2022, West has periodically gone on antisemitic rants, in some of which he appeared to threaten Jews and insisted that he loved Hitler.
West said he didn’t mean to cause harm and regretted any pain he may have caused, and vowed to promote unity.
“I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience,” he wrote.
Since the height of the scandal in late 2022, which prompted Adidas to cut ties with him, West has been keeping a relatively low profile, and even once posted in praise of Jonah Hill’s performance in the comedy 21 Jump Street, saying it made him “like Jewish people again.”
In October, The New York Times published an expose on West’s time at Adidas, alleging misconduct that included West telling a Jewish manager at the company to kiss a picture of Hitler every day.
On Dec. 15, TMZ obtained video of the rapper performing in Las Vegas, where he went on a rant in which he claimed Zionist Jews own much of Los Angeles, including the banks, private schools and hospitals. (He also rapped “I still keep some Jews with me. Management? Nah. I only let ’em do my jewelry” and shouted “Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye!”)
West’s latest album, Vultures, includes a track where he rejects the idea that he is antisemitic because he claims to have slept with a “Jewish b—.” The record, which was meant to drop earlier in December, has been pushed back to January. It remains to be seen if it will have a song or any liner notes in the holy tongue.
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