By Alex Atia
In 2005, Kanye West (now Ye) stood in front of national news and proclaimed a controversial, yet cutting, statement: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
This was not the first time Ye would speak his mind to the world, and it certainly was not the last. He has built two intertwining legacies for himself: a massively influential hip-hop artist, essential to what the genre is today, and a contrarian who goes against the grain. To say his actions were unpredictable or unbelievable, however, is to ignore the very public history of Ye’s fall from grace.
Ye has made national news in the past month regarding his donning of a t-shirt with white supremacist catch-phrase “White Lives Matter” plastered on the back during his Oct. 3 Yeezy runway show. As if this, and his friendship with alt-right talk-show host Candace Owens, was not enough, he took to Twitter with unbridled anti-Semitic remarks, culminating in a promise to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE!”
So how did we get here?
Ye has a very traceable history of harmful actions and statements. In 2009, he famously stormed the stage of the VMA’s to interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance of an award, all to say that “Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” This was, again, not the first time Ye had stormed the stage of an awards show to interrupt the winner, but hey, two, three nickels right?
In 2016, giving no context, Ye tweeted “BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!” amidst Cosby’s then ongoing sexual assault case, in which over 50 women individually accused him.
In 2018, Ye appeared on TMZ for an interview. The infamous quote speaks for itself: "When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice. You were there for 400 years and it's all of y'all. It's like we're mentally imprisoned."
Ye of course tried to clarify this statement after the fact, by playing the victim: “Once again I am being attacked for presenting new ideas.”
That quote sums up Ye’s mentality fairly accurately. He claims to be a free-thinker, someone who knows the secrets of the world, who is not afraid to speak his mind, and yet his latest statements in this regard are neither ground-breaking or original. Ye is spreading the anti-Semitic stereotype that Jewish people are somehow controlling the world, money and influential figures. This stereotype has been around for over a century, existing only to scapegoat and cause harm, and has zero actual merit or evidence to support it.
This escalation in controversy makes perfect sense. Ye has hardly seen any serious, long-lasting consequences for anything until now. Off the back of his extremely successful music and fashion careers, and his presence as a pop-culture icon, he has gotten away with every controversial remark and action he has taken part in up to this point. No brand has ever dropped him, no one has told him no, and no one has stopped him. More than that, he profits from it. Every big scandal of his gets his name circulating across the globe, and for a businessman, any press is good press.
Ye has received heavier backlash following his anti-Semitic remarks than he has seen ever before. Balenciaga, Adidas, Def Jam, Gap and Foot Locker, to name a few, have cut ties with him, with more companies expected to do the same. As of yet, he has not offered any actual apology, and instead seems to be doubling down on his ‘beliefs.’
Many attribute these outbursts to Ye’s bipolar disorder, which he revealed he was diagnosed with in 2016. They say that he is struggling, and not of sound mind. While this may be true, and should not be taken lightly, there comes a point where one becomes fully responsible for their actions. Ye has repeatedly expressed disdain for the idea of getting mental help, or receiving any medication for his illness. He has ignored those close to him, and continued to spread hate and harm. Ye absolutely has the resources to get better, but he refuses to. There is more money to be made in controversy than there is in healing.
People have also (rightly so) pointed out that Ye is not the only one to have said or done these types of harmful actions, yet is uniquely receiving heavy backlash for it. There are plenty of big names in pop culture that remain there, even through controversy and accusations – too many to name here. His identity as a black man certainly plays a role, and while it does not excuse any of his actions, we should be holding everyone equally accountable for their wrongs.
It is clear that Ye has lost all rationality. His actions are contradictory: he criticizes George Bush for his neglect of black victims of Hurricane Katrina, and then turns around and says that slavery was a choice. He advocates for the freeing of Larry Hoover on Donda, and then shows his support for White Lives Matter. The only thing consistent about Ye is that he is a contrarian, plain and simple. He will say or do whatever he believes will get his name to blow up the biggest. It all comes back to money; Ye is a billionaire, and money corrupts.
It is not the first time we have seen it happen. Inevitably, this sort of contrarianism always results in a moment where the individual says something that the public deems unforgivable (at least temporarily). For Ye, it was “death con 3.” It remains to be seen where he goes from here.
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