Kanye West was a hero for so many for the last twenty years. Then… he said this: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight, but when I wake up I’m going Defcon 3 on Jewish people.”
Kanye West’s recent actions have been more than controversial; they have been unacceptable. The controversy of the current situation comes in the reaction, because the question becomes: what is the appropriate reaction?
West is no stranger to controversy. But, recent controversial actions started with him wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-Shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show in early October. He also passed out the shirts on Skid Row in Los Angeles, making a largely marginalized group with economic and mental health struggles a poster board for his racist message.
He followed this with a string of antisemitic comments over the following weeks. Popular Jewish, right wing political commentator, Ben Shapiro, described West’s comments as “straight up nazism.” After his comments, demonstrators in Los Angeles showed support for West’s comments.
The aftermath of his actions has led to Balenciaga, Gap, and CAA, West’s talent agency, all cutting ties with him. Adidas have also ended their lucrative deal with the rapper.
West is an icon, and even that may be an understatement. Spotify ranks him as the 21st most popular artist in the world with almost 51 million monthly listeners.
He was a colossus in 21st century rap, releasing modern classics like Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Beyond his music, his Yeezy shoe line with Adidas had become one of the most popular shoes of the last decade.
His status as a superstar gives him a responsibility to be a role model. He along with others need to understand the power they have and what they say has immense weight.
There is a huge number of young people who admire Kanye West.
After Kanye’s antisemitic comments, a banner was displayed over a Los Angeles freeway saying “Kanye was right.”
“When young people see someone that they admire acting this way,” Ms. Brittany Whipple explains. “It tells them that this is not just an accepted behavior but a desirable one.”
I used to consider myself a Kanye West fan. I thoroughly enjoyed his Jeen-Yus documentary, I rapidly refreshed my phone until his Donda album dropped, and I have a vinyl of his Kids See Ghosts album hanging on my wall.
When deciding how to react to the current situation, the conversation becomes can we separate the art from the artist? Well, I don’t think there is a right answer.
Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson feels that we can.
“To be following Kanye on social media, sharing, liking, or reposting his content,” he says, “is completely different than going to his Spotify profile and clicking shuffle.”
I disagree.
I have made the decision to remove all his songs from my library, take his vinyl off my wall, and unfollow him on all social media platforms. I feel I cannot give a platform to someone who has made hateful comments the way he did.
While separating the art from the artist is a personal decision, we as a community of people have a responsibility to do what is right.
“We, as consumers,” Ms. Whipple says, “are left with little option but to cease consumption of media and goods.”
We live in a tumultuous time, in an incredibly divided country. There is so much hate in the world, so why when we have an opportunity to make a difference, we do nothing.
We need to show that Kanye West’s actions are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated, yet by deciding to not isolate ourselves from his media, we are choosing to tolerate it. Tolerance gives space for this hate to grow because it shows that it is okay.
I hope that we can use Kanye West as an example to show that acts of hate are not and will never be ok.