Kanye West Has Become A Mouthpiece For The Far-Right

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, finally crossed the line.

Ye has been flirting with the line for several years now – in an era where thousands of paranoid thinkpieces are written, warning of the dangers of cancel culture, Ye seemed almost immune to backlash.

In the past, Ye has embraced MAGA politics, called slavery “a choice,” proudly embraced the anti-choice movement, and made thinly veiled threats to the comedian Pete Davidson, through song lyrics and a disturbing music video.

An ear for music, an eye for fashion, and a big personality has seen Ye ride the waves of controversy, but when he appeared at his Yeezy fashion show with a “White Lives Matter” shirt, a slogan widely considered a racist response against the Black Lives Matter movement, something shifted in the discourse.

Ye appeared arm-in-arm with Candace Owens, the right-wing culture warrior who regularly appears on Tucker Carlson, and who once described a group of BLM protestors as “a bunch of whiny toddlers, pretending to be oppressed for attention.”

Owens is infamous for her poorly informed climate denial exchange on the Joe Rogan Experience (notably, one of the few times Rogan has passionately pushed back against a guest), and her bizarre, completely unprompted ramble regarding the intentions of Adolf Hitler, in response to a question about nationalism in Western politics.

In 2018, Owens was gifted a huge attention-boost from Ye, after he tweeted: “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.” At the time, Owens attempted to get Ye involved in her “Blexit” campaign, which was aimed at convincing African Americans to join the Republican Party.

Owens seemingly came close, but didn’t manage to ensnare Ye at the time, as Ye tweeted his intention to distance himself from politics, having come to the conclusion that he had “been used to spread messages I don’t believe in.”

Ye’s recent appearance with Owens coincided with his increasingly erratic Instagram posts, one of which implied Sean “Diddy” Combs was being controlled by Jewish people. In response, Ye’s Instagram account was locked, and Ye moved to Twitter, where he was warmly welcomed by Elon Musk.

It didn’t take long for Ye to write a nakedly anti-Semitic post, in which he stated that he was going “death con 3 on Jewish people,” and wrote “you guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

Ye followed up with a vague, but ominous tweet, asking: “Who do you think created cancel culture?”

Ye’s Twitter account was subsequently locked. Unable to communicate through social media, Ye appeared on Fox News for an interview with Tucker Carlson, in which he parroted right-wing talking points and gossiped about Anna Wintour, while Carlson nodded sagely.

Later, disturbing details about the interview were leaked, as Vice’s Motherboard published a series of unaired clips that were cut from Carlson’s broadcast that cast the conversation in a very different light.

The clips showed Ye making several anti-Semitic comments, as well as unsettling claims about “fake children” planted in his house to “sexualize” his own children, and describing visions of “kinetic energy” cities sent to him by God. A clip in which Ye admitted to being vaccinated against COVID-19 was also cut from the broadcast.

Ye’s blatant anti-Semitism inspired widespread condemnation, sparking a shift in tone inside the Kanye West fandom, as even his most dedicated fans expressed discomfort and disappointment.

Right-wing culture warrior Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish, condemned Ye’s anti-Semitic comments, while simultaneously attempting to frame Ye’s embrace of conservatism as a positive development.

Candace Owens, however, defended Ye’s tweet, stating: “If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was anti-Semitic,” concluding, “It’s like you cannot even say the word ‘Jewish’ without people getting upset.”

TMZ reported that Owens has become Ye’s “chief advisor,” with sources allegedly close to Ye claiming that he is “in a bad space mentally,” and anyone working to persuade him to do anything other than get help “doesn’t have his best interests at heart.”

On Wednesday, Ye appeared to double down, after being asked if he regretted his anti-Semitic comments by a TMZ reporter. Ye responded: “Do you think that comment came just out of the blue?” Ye went on to claim that “people use that anti-Semite idea to cover up bad business.”

Ye, it turns out, was leaving the screening of Candace Owen’s new anti-BLM documentary. When asked what he thought of Owen’s film, Ye responded:

“I loved it.”