Kanye West’s return to Twitter has been a controversial one, with the rapper accused of anti-Semitism after tweeting on Sunday that he wants to go “death con 3 [sic] on Jewish People,” who he alleged “created cancel culture.”
“I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” West tweeted in the early hours of Sunday morning, apparently referring to ‘DEFCON 3’, a state of heightened alert used by the US military.
“The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic,” he continued, “because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
The allegations of Jewish conspiracy were widely condemned and the tweet was soon deleted. However, a follow-up tweet asking “Who you think created cancel culture?” remains online.
West was suspended from Instagram earlier this week for sharing a series of text conversations between himself and fellow rapper Diddy, in which the latter first tried to convince West to stop wearing his ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirt. In response, West accused Diddy of being sent by “the Jewish people” to “threaten” him into silence.
West donned the ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt at a fashion show in Paris on Monday, and declared on Instagram a day later that the Black Lives Matter movement was “a scam.” Amid pushback from liberal pundits and his fellow celebrities, West told Fox News host Tucker Carlson: “The answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is because they do. It’s the obvious thing.”
After West told Carlson that he viewed Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as the former president’s “handler,” the Anti-Defamation League weighed in on Friday, calling the rapper’s behavior “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic.”
“There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,” the organization declared.