Kanye West’s longtime collaborator Malik Yusef has revealed that the rapper’s recent antisemitic comments were directed at Drake, who is Jewish on his mother’s side. In a new BBC documentary, “The Trouble with KanYe,” which airs Wednesday night in the UK, Yusef said that West was “obsessed” with Drake and felt threatened by his success and popularity.
“Kanye has thrown himself on the pyre of white nationalism,” Yusef said. “He’s been doing this for a long time. He’s been saying things that are very hurtful to the Jewish community, to the black community, to women, to everybody.”
Yusef, who has worked with West since 2005 as a composer, songwriter, and producer, said that he tried to intervene and stop West from making antisemitic remarks but was ignored. He said that West’s mental health issues and addiction to opioids contributed to his erratic behavior and controversial statements.
West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021, has faced widespread backlash for his antisemitic comments in recent weeks. Among the controversial statements deemed to be antisemitic that West made include writing on Twitter on October 9 that he was “going death con 3 on Jewish people.” He also said in an interview with Piers Morgan that he was “sorry for the people that I hurt” by his tweet, but emphasized that he was “absolutely not” sorry for writing the comment.
In another interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, West said that he doesn’t “believe in that term [antisemitic].” He added, “One thing is, Black people are also Jews. I classify myself as a Jew also. So, I actually can’t be an antisemite. The term is actually not factual.”
West also made more antisemitic comments when he appeared on the podcast Drink Champs on October 16. During the appearance, he also claimed he “can literally say antisemitic s**t,” and Adidas would not drop him from their deal. However, Adidas became the latest business to cut ties with West on October 19. In a statement provided to Newsweek, the German sportswear company said it “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”
Numerous celebrities have spoken out against antisemitism in the wake of West’s comments, including his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. “Hate speech is never OK or excusable,” the reality star posted on Twitter on October 24. “I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”.
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