JOIN USKanye West’s posts land him in trouble on social media
Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has set off one controversy after another in the past week, first at his fashion show and then on social media, prompting accusations of racism and antisemitism.
On Monday, at Paris Fashion Week, he debuted a T-shirt for his fashion line bearing the phrase “White Lives Matter.” On Friday, he suggested on Instagram that Sean Combs, the rapper known as Diddy, was being controlled by Jewish people. Ye’s account was restricted by Instagram that day.
Early Sunday, he went on Twitter and lashed out against Jewish people in a series of tweets.
Ye tweeted that he would soon go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the United States’ defense readiness condition, known as Def. Con.
“You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he wrote. The tweet was removed by the company.
In a separate tweet, Ye accused Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, which owns Instagram, of removing him from Instagram.
“Who you think created cancel culture?” he added in another tweet.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Twitter said Ye’s account was locked for violating Twitter’s policies. A spokesperson for Meta said it places restrictions on accounts that repeatedly break its rules.
Representatives for Ye could not immediately be reached.
The restrictions on Twitter and Instagram mean that Ye’s account is still active, but that the rapper cannot post for an undisclosed period.
Ye had returned to Twitter on Saturday after not posting for nearly two years.
The posts were yet another test of social media companies’ willingness to monitor content that is perceived as hateful.
The T-shirt design and the social media posts were widely condemned by celebrities and Jewish groups, who said they echoed racist and antisemitic ideas.
The Anti-Defamation League has called “White Lives Matter” a hateful phrase used by white supremacists.
At first, Ye appeared to relish in the T-shirt controversy, writing on Instagram that “my one t-shirt took allllll the attention.”
But outrage continued to build online from several artists, including Combs, who criticized the design in a video on Instagram.
“Don’t wear the shirt. Don’t buy the shirt. Don’t play with the shirt,” Combs said. “It’s not a joke.”
On Thursday, Adidas said it would put its partnership with Yeezy “under review.” (Ye ended his partnership with Gap last month.)
On Friday, Ye posted screenshots from a text message exchange with Combs to his Instagram account, where he suggested that Combs was being controlled by Jewish people. The comments were called antisemitic by several Jewish groups.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing these kinds of tropes and conspiracy theories on the rise across the country, which is all the more troubling because the rise of antisemitic rhetoric is directly linked to the rise in antisemitic violence,” Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said in a statement.
The Instagram posts were deleted by the company.
Shortly after, Ye returned to Twitter, where he posted a photo of himself with Zuckerberg. “How you gone kick me off instagram,” he wrote.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla who has signaled that he would buy the social media company for $44 billion and could loosen its content moderation policies, replied to the tweet.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!” Musk wrote.