Kanye West has now claimed that he “doesn’t believe” in the term antisemitism.
In the past week, the 45-year-old rapper has been widely condemned for making a number of controversial comments on social media and in interviews.
On Monday (17 October), during an interview with News Nation’s Chris Cuomo, Ye addressed his plan to purchase right-wing social media network Parler.
When Cuomo asked Ye whether the antisemitic comments that he made violated Parler’s community guidelines, the Donda rapper responded: “I don’t like the term ‘antisemitic’.
“It’s been a term that’s allowed people, specifically in my industry, to get away with murder – sometimes literally – and get away with robbing and doing bad [to] people.”
“You’re saying it’s antisemitic, but I don’t believe in that term.
“One thing is, Black people are also Jew. I classify as Jew also, so I actually can’t be an antisemite. So the term is actually, uh, it’s not factual,” he claimed.
During the 20-minute segment, when Cuomo tried to interject at one point, Ye cut him off and said: “Everyone wants to shoot the messenger but the thing is, the Jewish people that I’m talking about don’t have to understand. And that is that privilege that I’m not going to allow.”
During the interview, Ye also addressed his “White Lives Matter” T-shirts.
“When I wore the ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt, the Jewish underground media mafia already started attacking me,” he claimed. “They cancelled my four SoFi Stadium shows, they had the press – the same people, the… outlets that when I was arguing with Pete Davidson and Trevor Noah, they called me an abuser for arguing with people about my ex-wife and my family, and when I get to see my kids and when I don’t.
“And they just immediately disrespect me, they keep the ‘crazy’ narrative going, they never call me a billionaire. We never talked about, even on this one right here, hey: tycoon, billionaire, visionary, inventor. These are never used.”
Cuomo then debunked West’s claim, telling him: “There is no Jewish media cabal mafia.
“That is a figment of either your imagination or projection of a prejudice, okay?” he said. “You may have had bad business dealings with people, it’s about those people, it’s not about the religion or faith.
“I know you are intelligent and understand that when you target people because of their faith, other people may do so the same… We don’t want to tolerate that.”
This interview came a few days after Ye sparked new controversy by claiming that George Floyd died from the drug fentanyl and that a police officer’s knee “wasn’t even on his neck like that” during a podcast.
