Monday, February 10, 2025

Ye and the Art of the Swastika Grift: Kanye Drops Super Bowl Ad for Nazi Merch, Then Disappears

A screengrab fromYe's Super Bowl commercial.

After a weekend of hateful posts on X — where he declared himself a Nazi, praised Adolf Hitler, and made a series of misogynistic and conspiracy-laden remarks — Ye’s account suddenly disappeared Sunday night. The move came hours after he aired a bizarre self-shot Super Bowl commercial, directing viewers to his website, yeezy.com, where the only item for sale was a $20 white T-shirt emblazoned with a black swastika.

The page featured no explanation, only the text "HH-01," a term widely interpreted as shorthand for “Heil Hitler.” The Anti-Defamation League quickly condemned the shirt, calling it “further proof of Ye’s dangerous, escalating antisemitism.” The organization, which combats anti-Jewish discrimination, pointed out that the swastika “continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by white supremacy.”

The Super Bowl ad, which aired in select markets including Los Angeles, showed Ye reclining in a dentist’s chair, telling viewers, “I spent all the money for the commercial on these new teeth. So once again, I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Um, um, um, go to yeezy.com.” There was no mention of the swastika shirts, but by Monday morning, they were the only item available for purchase.

In an ironic twist, Ye had explicitly stated days earlier that he would never sell such a shirt, posting: “I would never sell a swastika tee because people could be physically harmed wearing it … I love my fans and supporters.” His rapid reversal fueled speculation that his latest spiral is not just another episode of erratic behavior but a calculated attempt to provoke outrage and capitalize on controversy.

Before his abrupt departure from X, Ye expressed gratitude to Elon Musk for keeping his platform open to him. “I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent,” he wrote. “It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”

Musk, for his part, publicly distanced himself from Ye's content but allowed him to continue posting well beyond the point where most accounts would have been banned. He acknowledged that Ye had posted explicit content, replying to one X user, “Given what he has posted, his account is now classified as NSFW. You should not be seeing that anymore.”

Ye’s latest outburst also included a bizarre defense of jailed music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, whom he called his “idol” while criticizing celebrities for not speaking out on Combs’ behalf. He then claimed “dominion” over his wife, Bianca Censori, who has drawn attention in recent weeks for appearing nearly nude in public alongside Ye.

His antisemitic rhetoric is nothing new. In 2022, he infamously tweeted that he was going “death con 3 on Jewish people,” which led to his suspension from Twitter and Instagram, the loss of multi-billion-dollar deals with Adidas and other companies, and widespread condemnation. He later apologized in 2023, claiming he was committed to “learning from the experience.” But as his latest meltdown demonstrates, any notion of repentance was short-lived.

Now, Ye’s X account is gone, his swastika-laden shirts are the only remnant of his latest self destruction, and his Super Bowl stunt has left the world wondering: Will he finally face real consequences, or is this just another cycle in his endless spiral of controversy?

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