During Sunday’s Super Bowl, viewers were met with an unexpected ad featuring Kanye West, casually filmed on an iPhone. In the bizarre 30-second clip, the rapper talked about his new teeth before urging fans to check out Yeezy.com.
But by the next morning, those who followed his suggestion found just one item for sale—a white T-shirt boldly emblazoned with a swastika.
Ye’s fashion label, Yeezy, took a major hit after his infamous antisemitic meltdown in the fall of 2022, which led to Adidas cutting ties and ending their $2 billion-a-year partnership. West appears to try to revive the brand Sunday, stumbling through his words as he tries to promote it.
“What’s up, guys? I just spent like all the money for the commercial, um, on these new teeth,” he said in the commercial. “So, once again I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Um, um, um, go to Yeezy.com.”
Kanye West has a long antisemitic history. Let’s unpack his antisemitism and the common tropes he discusses
What did Kanye West say about Jewish people this week?
The $20 T-shirt, available in three sizes, is the latest in a string of openly antisemitic actions and remarks from Ye. The ad, which aired in select local Super Bowl broadcasts, came just days after the rapper’s most recent antisemitic tirade on X, where he expressed hatred for Jewish people, praised Adolf Hitler, and referred to himself as a Nazi.
The shirt itself is labeled “HH-01,” a well-known neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.”
This comes after his tirade on X early Friday morning, writing dozens of posts reminiscent of his 2022 tweets. Writing to his 32 million followers — double the number of Jews worldwide — West proudly called himself a Nazi, praised Hitler, and proclaimed that antisemitism was “just some bulls–t Jewish people made up to protect their bulls–t.”
Many of the posts were initially hidden to X users, but were later unblocked by the social media platform for all to see.
“I’m going to normalize talking about hitler,” he wrote.
Just over a minute later West complimented the genocidal dictator again writing, “Hitler was soooo fresh.”
In his tirade, West doubled down on his previous statements that Jewish people are untrustworthy.
“AMY JEWISH PERSON THAT DOES BUSINESS WITH ME NEEDS TO KNOW I DONT LIKE OR TRUST ANY JEWISH PERSON AMD THIS IS COMPLETELY SOBER WITH NO HENNESY,” he wrote
“IM NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS,” he added.
A month after West was kicked off X, then known as Twitter, new owner Elon Musk — who also has been accused of antisemitism — allowed him to return to the social media platform.
During his Friday morning rant, West thanked Musk for allowing him to spread his beliefs on X.
“ELON THEY KICKED ME OFF OF INSTAGRAM SO HAPPY YOU BOUGHT X,” West wrote in all caps.
On Sunday, West announced that he would be leaving X, thanking Musk once again for giving him a platform.
“I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent,” West wrote in his final post. “It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”
This is far from the first time Kanye West has exposed Nazi adoration
West’s antisemitism has become so prolific that neo-Nazis have begun echoing his phrasing and statements, what has been dubbed the “Kanye effect.” His dozens of antisemitic posts, while widely panned, received “likes” from thousands and praise from the white nationalist community.
In Oct. 2022, West’s antisemitic posts on social media culminated in a Twitter threat of doing a “death con 3” against the Jewish people.
The multi-day tirade began on Instagram in a now deleted post titled “Jesus is Jew” where he posted an alleged conversation between him and singer Sean Combs.
Ye then went on Fox News and told host Tucker Carlson that Jared Kushner’s (who is Jewish) diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, known as the Abraham Accords, were motivated by money.
After being banned on Instagram, Ye threatened the Jewish community, saying he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people, referring to the U.S. military’s DEFCON alert state — at DEFCON 3 the U.S. Air Force is ready to mobilize in 15 minutes.
He then defended himself saying that he could not be antisemitic because “black people are actually Jew.” Twitter deleted his tweet an hour after posting, which prompted West to make the insinuation that Jewish people created cancel culture. (All this happened just hours after Elon Musk welcomed him back to the platform.)
West has repeatedly used antisemitic tropes — let’s unpack their history
Each one of Kanye’s posts are classic antisemitic tropes:
- Claiming antisemitism isn’t valid because Jesus was Jewish
- Jewish influence over society
- Jews are motivated by money
- Jewish people aren’t actually the “real Jews”
Let’s break them down.
Who are the Jewish people?
“Who is a Jew?” is one of those big questions without a clear-cut answer. But throughout history, defining someone as Jewish or not has come with high stakes — as high as the difference between life and death. To some Jews, their Jewish identity is their entire world; others don’t even think about it. So, who gets to decide whether someone else is a Jew and what does Jewish identity even mean?
Unlike other conspiracy theories it’s not just a fringe few who are pushing the idea that Ashkenazi Jews aren’t actually Jewish.
Black Jews have been a part of American history since before the colonial era. In fact, Jews of Roman-African or Afro-Caribbean descent, of diverse lineage, or who have converted continue to contribute to the rich and multi-faceted history of the Jewish people. Today, some of these Jews of Color have come together in communities and organizations to bring them out of the margins and into the mainstream of American Jewry.
Jews are motivated by money
Antisemitic tropes about Jewish wealth have been around for centuries. While there are some truly wild conspiracy theories out there it does beg the question…are Jews rich?
While not ALL Jews are rich, Jewish people are still statistically overrepresented among the wealthy. This may be due to the overall Jewish value of education and a gravitation towards more urban environments where there are greater opportunities for economic advancement.
Historically, Jews have experienced periods of great economic instability, yet the challenges they have faced have created a culture of resilience and entrepreneurial perseverance still evident today.
Jews control everything
Singling out Jews who are involved in media and finance is a trope that’s part of a larger conspiracy theory claiming that Jews control everything as part of some global plot.
But where does this conspiracy theory come from? This trope finds its roots in 18th and 19th century Russian antisemitism.
Jesus was a Jew so I can’t be antisemitic
Christianity and Judaism have a lot in common, not a huge surprise given Christianity’s Jewish roots. But there’s a major point of difference between the two religions — Jesus. To the Jews, Jesus was a man; to Christians, a messiah, which is a pretty fundamental difference of opinion — and it’s one (of many) that’s shaped the history of Jewish-Christian relations over the centuries.
Before, Jews had to contend with the pagan world, but Christians actively sought to convert other religions and didn’t tolerate those who resisted. Judaism’s existence threatened their claim that Christianity was the spiritual inheritance to Israel.
