It seems that Kanye “Ye” West has become less of a musician and more of a public provocateur, each reason for appe arance in the headlines more ridiculous than the last. He has done many things in his career but sadly not enough of those things have been good.
Most recently, West was suspended from Instagram on Oct. 30 for making yet another anti-semitic statement. On the conservative free-speech platform Parler, which he is about to buy, he posted screenshots of text messages with Russell Simmons where Simmons urged West to rebuild his brand and “leave this fight and strategize,” according to an NBC news report. The article does not go into detail about what was said specifically, only that West responds to Simmons with “a disparaging claim about Jewish business people.”’
West currently has a little over 31 million followers on Twitter. Too many of those followers have begun to parrot the phrase “Kanye was right about the Jews” and this is especially frightening as West plans to take control of Parler. According to the “American Jewish Yearbook 2020” by Sergio DellaPergola, the world’s Jewish population sits at about 14 million, a bit under half of West’s number of followers. So far, West has been booted from social media on multiple occasions as well as from appearing on “The Late Show” as of Oct. 28 per the decree of Stephen Colbert according to NBC.
At this point, it is difficult to recall what makes West a celebrity in the first place. Perhaps the answer lies in the purely bizarre nature of his endeavors. He designs ugly haute couture shoes. He oversees Donda Academy, a private Christian school which, a quick Google search will show, is not accredited. Over the summer he was very openly harassing his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian and launching a barrage of insults against Pete Davidson. West even went so far as to create a music video for his song “Eazy” wherein a clay model of Davidson is buried alive.
West is a celebrity because he does over-the-top things that would land other, particularly female celebrities, under heavy public scrutiny. His music, whether you like it or not, is not enough to excuse his actions.
Many have pointed out that West suffers from bipolar disorder and interpret his actions as cries for help. This could very well be true, and it is disheartening to see how his loyal followers only egg him on. Or, this could be one giant extended publicity stunt, but we are far past that territory now. No mental illness diagnosis is an excuse for anti-semitic behavior.
It is important to recognize when the power of a celebrity over impressionable minds has become too great, and more organizations need to be vocal about separating from West both business-wise and socially. West has become a sort of caricature acting as a sort of experiment testing the limits of what the uber-wealthy can and cannot do. Until we draw a line somewhere, we will only be permitting the acceptance of anti-semitism and harrassment.
Image from Kanye West via YouTube
