In the space of 11 hours, Kanye West broke almost every taboo.
Through 57 posts, the polarizing rap mogul launched an incredibly offensive machine-gun tirade of attacks on Jews, gays, feminists, the overweight, the mentally challenged, the woke, and other rappers. He supported Diddy. He lionized Adolf Hitler.
This time last year, there would almost certainly be serious consequences for any one of these posts.
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The last time he went on a similar online antisemitic rant was while promoting his Vultures album. That time he issued an apology to the Jewish community, posting a message entirely in Hebrew on Instagram on Christmas Day 2023 that read: “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions, it was not my intention to hurt or disrespect, 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.”
The message smacked of reputation-saving public relations, the language very different from anything he would write on his social media platform. But it was a mea culpa. He owned up to being abusive.
A little over one year later, our culture is so fundamentally different that the only consequence to West is, as he so blatantly points out, that the notoriety will make him richer. And more famous.
In Donald Trump’s America, anything goes.
Trump, with the backing of a popular majority, doesn’t shy away from topics past presidents would run a mile to avoid.
With a flourish of his black Sharpie, he set transgender rights back decades, he talks about taking over Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal, and Gaza, about re-opening Guantanamo Bay for undocumented migrants, about building a Mar-a-Lago-style ballroom in the middle of the White House. He gives people he doesn’t like offensive nicknames or calls them out in front of the world.
It is, says Trump, just “common sense” and virtually nothing is off limits. Some may see it as free speech, others as freedom to offend. But there is power in it either way.
Trump’s online rants on Truth Social are distributed to a relatively modest 8.83 million, but he has a way bigger audience than anyone else in the U.S. He is the most famous person in the world.
West’s abhorrent views are being circulated to his 32.4 million followers. The total number rose by more than 100,000 after he posted the messages into Friday morning. These are not simply rap fans who still rave over The College Dropout. Many have never even listened to his music. He has an enormous audience waiting to see what he says next. His every post accrues tens of thousands of views and they are clicking up as you watch.
“Ye” has a voice and now it is unfiltered. Elon Musk has other matters on his mind. He has made it clear he has no intention of censoring anybody on his X platform.
Amid the flurry of insults, West leaves his followers in no doubt that he is not backing down this time.
“If I get taken off of streaming services it’s only going to make me richer,” he wrote in one of his later, lower-case tweets. “Any and every control tactic you have at this point only makes me richer.”
After posting that “Hitler was sooooo fresh,” West writes: “I AINT ADJUSTING NOTHING I DO OR SAY FOR ANYBODY WHO HAS ENOUGH TIME ON THEIR HANDS TO SIT AND TALK ABOUT WHAT THE F--- I WRITE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE YOUR OPINIONS DONT MEAN S--- TO ME I DONT GIVE A F--- WHAT ANYONE LIKES.
“CAN SAY JEW AS MUCH AS I WANT I CAN SAY HITLER AS MUCH AS I WANT MATTER FACT I DO SAY IT WHEN I WANT.”
As if the point wasn’t clear enough, West doubled down. “IM NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE F--- I WANNA SAY FOREVER.”
As West was nearing the end of his rapid-fire X-attack, Trump was on Truth Social demanding a reporter be axed.
“Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post is INCOMPETENT! So sad to see him trying to justify the waste, fraud, and corruption at USAID with his pathetic Radical Left SPIN. He should be fired immediately!!!” wrote the president of the United States.
He followed that up with a brief complaint about environmentally preferable paper drinking straws: “I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!”
In August 2024, Trump called West “a nice guy”, although he conceded that the rapper “can get some people into trouble.”
“He’s got a good heart—he does, he does, but he’s complicated,” Trump added.
The president’s a busy man and probably doesn’t have time to scroll through West’s overnight online screed but a brief scroll through shows him using words like “wetarded” and phrases like “gay n---- voice” and “Yadolf Yitler.”
Some of his more offensive full capital comments also include: “IM RACIST STEREO TYPES EXIST FOR A REASON AND THEY ALL BE TRUE”
And, “I HAVE DOMINION OVER MY WIFE THIS AINT NO WOKE AS FEMINIST S--- SHES WITH A BILLIONAIRE.”
“I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT B-----”
That’s probably quite enough. And don’t hold your breath waiting for the apology.
