(StraightNews.org) – Rapper Kanye West has issued an apology to America’s Jewish community following several antisemitic comments. On an Instagram post to mark the end of 2023, West wrote that he was sorry if people were offended by his “unintended rants,” adding, “It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused.” He wrote the message both in English and Hebrew.
The apology came soon after the controversial celebrity went on an antisemitic tirade during an album launch at a Las Vegas hotel. The expletive-filled speech, during which he loudly proclaimed, “It’s 60 million of us in America, 60 million Jews in the world,” was widely circulated on social media.
West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021, has a history of making antisemitic comments, including repeating tropes about Jews and wealth. During an interview with Tucker Carlson, he said he would prefer his children to know Hannukah rather than Kwanzaa because Hannukah comes with “financial engineering.” He also said Jews are “all about making money” and that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is Jewish, negotiated the Abraham Accords “to make money.”
Last November, West announced plans to run for President of the United States in 2024, and Donald Trump later had dinner with him to discuss it. Trump told reporters that West was a “seriously troubled man” who he advised not to run for office.
Facing criticism for meeting with the rapper at his Florida home, Trump stated on his Truth Social media account that he had done it to help West, who had been “decimated in his business and virtually everything else.” The former President added, “I told him don’t run for office, a total waste of time, can’t win.”
Born in Atlanta in 1977, West grew up in Chicago with his mother, Donda – an English professor – and his father, Ray, a former Black Panther activist who became a Christian counselor.
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