Screengrab/ YouTube |
There is crazy, and there is Kanye crazy.
Since stoking the latest in a long string of controversies that have enveloped his career by wearing a T-shirt with the words "white lives matter" emblazoned across the back at his Paris fashion show Monday (Oct. 3), Kanye West has continued to act in ways that have people questioning his character as well as his mental health.
The rapper and fashion mogul, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, recently had his Instagram and Twitter accounts locked for antisemitic comments.
Tucker Carlson had a lot of praise for Kanye West's ideas. Why didn't these clips make the cut? https://t.co/fd50o5l5sB pic.twitter.com/SqNGKsEnWK
— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) October 11, 2022
Instagram acted after he shared a conversation he had with Diddy, in which he implied the super-producer and fellow business mogul was controlled by Jews.
"This ain't a game," Ye texted in the now-deleted post. "Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war. Now gone get you some business."
Jamie Lee Curtis addresses Kanye West’s anti-Semitic posts on social media:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 10, 2022
“I woke up and burst into tears. Defcon 3 on Jewish people? What are you doing?” pic.twitter.com/q9qcmEGbY3
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, removed the post and restricted him citing a violation of its policies, but Ye was not done sharing.
He jumped over to Twitter, pulled out his shovel and continued to dig.
Ye posted a throwback photo of himself with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and wrote, "Look at this Mark. How you gone kick me off Instagram?"
If he had stopped there, it may have remained a disagreement between two out-of-touch billionaires, but Ye's follow-up message smacked of ignorance and hate.
"I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also," he wrote. "You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."
It did not take long for some very famous detractors, along with a surprising amount of conservative pundit supporters, to fan the spark into a fiery controversy that continues to burn with no end in sight — partially because Ye keeps adding fuel to the fire.
The latest came in the form of a combustible interview with one of the aforementioned pundits, Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
Released in the wake of the incident at the fashion show on Thursday (Oct. 6). It clearly seemed constructed to be a rebuke of the "left," by showcasing a successful, traditional member of the network's often self-proclaimed enemy who is being persecuted.
Tucker Carlson DEFENDS Kanye West after vile anti-Semitic rant – likening him to the man in Tiananmen Square 'standing in front of the tank' https://t.co/rTfOpDkO0t
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) October 11, 2022
For fans of the talk show host and Ye it seemed like business as usual. Carlson contorted his face into a look somewhere between constipation and deep thought while the Yeezy boss made digs at former president Barrack Obama, Black Lives Matter and opined about how he would be the first Latino president.
In all, it was pretty standard stuff for two guys who have made their careers off controversy, and textbook post-death of his mother Donda West for Ye.
What the network left on the cutting-room floor, however, was decidedly not.
Fantastic work by @annamerlan which shows just how stealthy these cuts were. Kanye repeatedly claiming that his wife and children were being indoctrinated by schools and the media, a common fox narrative, made the final cut, but fake children didn’t. pic.twitter.com/kY6v0OwpzR https://t.co/11FgM5i5HN
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) October 11, 2022
Unaired footage from the shoot, leaked and obtained first by Vice, offers an eye-opening and disturbing look into the psyche of Ye. It also serves as a poignant commentary on Carlson's methods, motivation and journalistic integrity.
In addition to making antisemitic claims about Planned Parenthood, he said, “I prefer my kids knew Hannukah than Kwanzaa. At least it would come with some financial engineering.”
He also claimed that Black people were the real Jews, endorsed multiple conspiracy theories and claimed professional actors had been placed in his house to sexualize his kids.
Watch a leaked clip from the interview below and click here to see more.