Kanye West slammed by Celebrities for Anti-Semitic Comments Transcript

Kanye West: (00:00)
People, they’re looking for an explanation, and people say, “Well, as a artist, you don’t have to give an explanation, but as a leader you do.” The answer to why I wrote White Lives Matter on a shirt is because they do. That’s the obvious thing.

Hallie Stephens: (00:19)
Shortly after Kanye West made headlines for wearing a White Lives Matter shirt at Paris Fashion Week, he’s back in the hot seat, this time for sharing several posts that were deemed anti-Semitic.

Kanye West: (00:31)
I’m just extremely happy. Can you tell by my face?

Hallie Stephens: (00:35)
On Sunday, the Grammy winner wrote on Instagram that he planned to go “death con three on Jewish people,” a comment that got his Instagram account restricted and post deleted, and Ye wasn’t feeling it, logging on to Twitter to post for the first time in two years, claiming he’s not anti-Semitic, and calling out Instagram boss Mark Zuckerberg. Those posts were also later removed from Twitter due to a violation of the platform’s policies. Now, Kanye’s accounts are still active, but he can’t post or comment for an undisclosed amount of time, and his latest controversy has celebs speaking out.

Hallie Stephens: (01:16)
Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted, “Words matter,” and added a public plea to the father of four. Quote, “Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop.” Sarah Silverman noted that Kanye’s threat to the Jewish population wasn’t trending on Twitter. Quote, “The silence is so loud.” John Legend, a former friend of Ye’s, called him out without naming names, tweeting quote, “Weird how all these free, independent thinkers always land at the same old anti-Blackness and anti-Semitism.” Meanwhile, Jack Antonoff was a little more blunt and to the point. Quote, “Kanye a little bitch.”

Jack Antonoff: (01:56)
Yeah, I’m just going to go with that.

Hallie Stephens: (01:57)
Of course, this all comes after the fashion designer enraged social media for sporting a White Lives Matter shirt at his Yeezy season nine presentation. He doubled down on the messaging during a sit down on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Kanye West: (02:12)
My dad is a educated ex Black Panther, and he put a text to me today. He said, “White Lives Matter, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” and I said, “I thought the shirt was a funny shirt.” I thought the idea of me wearing it was funny. I said, “Dad, why do you think it was funny?” He said, “Just a Black man stating the obvious.”

Hallie Stephens: (02:37)
White Lives Matter has been classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist phrase that originated in 2015 following the start of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Kanye West: (02:48)
We are in a battle with the media. The majority of the media has a godless agenda, and the jokes are not working. This whole “Oh, Ye’s crazy,” and all these things, they don’t work.

Hallie Stephens: (03:02)
Several stars spoke out against Ye’s shirt, including Jaden Smith, who walked out of the Yeezy show, later explaining on Twitter quote, “I don’t care who it is. If I don’t support the message, I’m out.”

Jaden Smith: (03:15)
Pretty much is what I’m saying with that.

Hallie Stephens: (03:17)
Jemele Hill tweeted that the shirt sends a “dangerously dumb message,” and Van Lathan called the move “frustrating, emotionally draining, and the whole problem.”