Kanye West
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As the music industry and realms beyond denounce antisemitic statements made by Kanye West, A-Trak has entered the conversation via a Twitter thread regarding the origins and dangers of antisemitism.
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In the thread posted Sunday, the producer spoke to his own experience as a “very moderate Jew,” noting that “as someone who supports the Palestinian cause and doesn’t agree with the vast majority of Israel’s actions, it would take a lot for me to call sh– out.” He later writes of the “sorrow” of recent “antisemitic sentiments that have been regurgitated by prominent people in the Black community.”
While A-Trak (born Alain Maklovitch) does not call out West by name, he does have a significant history with the rapper. In 2004, A-Trak became West’s first tour DJ, with the pair working together for years in the early ’00s and A-Trak even introducing West to Daft Punk, the French icons West famously sampled on the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Stronger” from his 2007 LP Graduation.
“The last few weeks have made me reflect a lot,” A-Trak writes. “I think there’s something about growing up in the relative calm of the 90s that made me turn my attention / sympathy towards the plight of other people, other minorities. Maybe I assumed people knew what Jews have gone through.
“But a lot of current events are extremely alarming and hurtful, and need to be acknowledged as such. The conspiratorial nature of antisemitism creates a climate of distrust and blame that escalates very quickly. There are patterns that can’t be ignored.
“Saying that Jews control ANYTHING — the media, finance, whatever — is antisemitism, it’s hate speech, straight up. Because it perpetuates these old conspiracies and myths and feeds distrust and hate. This can’t be downplayed.”
The statement continues: “What has compounded the pain lately is that some of these antisemitic sentiments have been regurgitated by prominent people in the Black community,” the post continues. “Speaking for myself, as a DJ who plays Hip Hop and House music — Black music, with love — this has brought a deep sorrow.
“But I wholeheartedly understand the need for some Black Americans, who were robbed of their history AND whom the education system failed, to dig into the past, to explore, to search for answers. We just need certain things to be accepted as bogus, as wrong.
“What we DON’T need — and I don’t want to get into any specific people or examples here — is for disciplinary action to be taken too far, into humiliation. That just perpetuates the distrust and America’s systemic problems.
“What I’m seeing is: Jews are hurting, re-living old trauma and getting more and more fearful. Black people are hurting, feeling chastised and dehumanized. And white supremacists are chilling, enjoying the show. That’s not ok.
“We shouldn’t even be looking at celebrities for any of this. What we should be doing is teaching each other about our histories and understanding each other. Love to my Jewish brothers & sisters, my Palestinian brothers & sisters, my Black brothers & sisters. We need to heal.”
Read the complete statement below in the thread below.
A-Trak’s reflections come as many in the music industry and beyond also speak out to denounce antisemitic hate speech in the wake of West’s racist and antisemitic actions and statements, which have since led to myriad consequences for West. At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony this past Saturday, John Mellencamp stated: “I cannot tell you how f—ing important it is to speak out if you’re an artist against antisemitism.”
I certainly didn’t expect the year 2022 to bring a rise in antisemitism. But here we are. I’m going to attempt to touch on a few points, as painful as it is… because I think we need a dialogue, and there’s a lot of things about antisemitism that are still misunderstood. 🧵— Nappin 4Tay (@atrak) November 7, 2022
Kanye West shared a string of tweets on Thursday (Nov. 3), during which he revealed that he will be taking a “fast” from speaking, alcohol, sex and porn.
“I’m not talking to nooobody for a month,” he captioned a post that reads, “I’m taking a 30 day cleanse, a verbal fast. No alcohol, no adult films, no intercourse.” He concluded by noting that his “Twitter still lit,” implying that he will still be active on social media during his cleanse.
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Ye continued his Twitter spree by praising basketball star Kyrie Irving, who has also been controversial about in the news in the past few years.
West’s Instagram account was restricted again on Monday (Oct. 31) following his latest reported violation of the platform’s policies. “We deleted content from @kanyewest for violating our policies and placed a restriction on the account,” a Meta spokesperson told Complex. “We may place restrictions on accounts that repeatedly break our rules, for example, we may temporarily restrict them from posting, commenting, or sending DMs.”
The latest locking of Ye’s account comes after Instagram and Twitter both placed temporary restrictions on his social media accounts after he posted antisemitic comments earlier in October.
Kim Kardashian is navigating life separate from Kanye West in the new season of Hulu‘s The Kardashians, and in the latest episode on Thursday (Nov. 3), the star clapped back at trolls who are critiquing her recent fashion choices.
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“Let me just say one thing about the flame outfit that everyone wants to talk about. On the internet [people] destroyed me and were like, ‘This is what she gets not being with Kanye. Finally, one look she dresses herself and Kanye’s outfits must have run out,’” she said at the end of the episode of a Balenciaga outfit she wore in April, noting that Ye actually chose that outfit.
“The tea is this was one of the outfits that he styled and picked out,” she revealed. “So, if you guys knew that and if we were together, you guys would think it was the coolest outfit in the world. Everyone is so f—ing fickle.”
In March, Kardashian was declared legally single, a little over a year after filing for divorce from Ye. She went on to date Pete Davidson, much to the distaste of West, who made several public jabs at the comedian. The 41-year-old split from Davidson in August after nine months of dating, and also spoke about their split in Interview. “He’s a cutie. He’s literally such a good person, they don’t really make them like him anymore,” she said of the former Saturday Night Live star. “I’m excited for what he has coming up.”
Watch the full episode of The Kardashians on Hulu here.
Kanye West took to Instagram on Sunday (Oct. 30) to respond to news that his Christian K-12 private school Donda Academy was closed following recent controversy surrounding the rapper.
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Ye shared a graphic photo of Emmett Till, who was tortured and lynched at just 14 years old after being accused of offending a white woman in 1955. He also posted a series of photos of Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Times last week that West’s business partners, including companies that profit off his music — such as Apple, Spotify, Adidas and his touring partners — should stop working with the star.
Ye references Emanuel by name in his caption, writing, “Can you find a place for the Donda Academy kids to go to school that’s properly zoned for a school? I got about 60 children that have no place to be as they look to transfer.”
He also brought up the Donda Academy basketball team, which was removed by Scholastic Play-By-Play Classics from the season schedule following the rapper’s string of anti-Semitic and racist comments. “They tried to dismantle our basketball team. Those boys are being penalized without reason,” Ye wrote. “Even professional athletes were threatened by their owners to disassociate.”
Ye then referred to his recent repercussions as “what modern post social media #Blackmirror warfare looks like,” adding three bullet points that read “economic lynching,” “digital lynching” and “bankrupting my social credit score.”
“You tried to destroy my life after all the money I’ve made for the ‘business’ people,” he wrote. “At least as I burn to the stake in front of the whole world… // everyone now knows who they need to really be afraid of. And now eeeeveryone knows how much power you ‘Business’ people actually have.”
He continued, “To everyone in the world! // Take me as an example of what will happen if you show any frustration. Your frustration does not matter! We declare today the day when no human is allowed to be human. Please note that I have never physically hurt anyone.”
See Ye’s full post here.
The star’s Instagram account was restricted again on Monday (Oct. 31) following his latest reported violation of the platform’s policies. “We deleted content from @kanyewest for violating our policies and placed a restriction on the account,” a Meta spokesperson told Complex. “We may place restrictions on accounts that repeatedly break our rules, for example, we may temporarily restrict them from posting, commenting, or sending DMs.”
This latest locking of Ye’s account comes after Instagram and Twitter both placed temporary restrictions on his social media accounts after he posted antisemitic comments earlier in October
A celebrity accountant is suing Kanye West for $4.5 million in allegedly unpaid fees, claiming the embattled artist and entrepreneur abruptly fired him just weeks after hiring him and told him he was “insane” if he thought he would stick to their agreement.
In a lawsuit filed Oct. 21, Thomas St. John claims he was hired in May by Yeezy LLC to serve as its chief financial officer for an 18-month contract with a $300,000 per month fee. He says he demanded those guarantees because of the “risks” of working with West and to assure the star “would not simply walk away.”
But St. John claims that West then did exactly that. At a June meeting at the pricey Malibu restaurant Nobu Ryokan, the accountant claims West “became heated and aggressive” and then abruptly terminated his new CFO.
“He screamed at Mr. St. John and made clear he no longer wanted to work with Plaintiff,” St. John’s lawyers wrote. “When confronted by the 18-month commitment that had just been made, Mr. West stated words to the effect of ‘the 18 month term was bullsh–’ and ‘you’re insane for even thinking I would stick to it.’”
If the new lawsuit is any indication, it looks like St. John plans to stick to it. He says West has made just three of the 18 payments he owes — and is demanding that a court order him to pay the $4.5 million owed on the deal.
Even though it involves millions of dollars, St. John’s new lawsuit might barely even register on the list of problems currently facing the once-beloved rapper.
After a string of antisemitic statements earlier this month, West has lost nearly every aspect of his once-formidable business empire. His representatives at CAA have dropped him, and his signature fashion partnerships with Adidas, The Gap and Balenciaga have all been terminated. It’s hard to know if he’ll even have lawyers to rep him in the current case, since many of his attorneys have begun to cut ties as well.
Even before the current whirlwind, West was already being accused of stiffing business partners. In early July, the high-end fashion rental service David Casavant Archive said West never returned more than a dozen “esteemed” items and owed $400,000 in late fees. A few weeks later, the production company Phantom Labs said the star owed $7.1 million for work done on his cancelled Coachella and other events.
A spokesperson for West could not be located to comment on the new lawsuit. Multiple former press representatives for West have recently told Billboard that they no longer work with him.
Texas A&M will no longer use Kanye West’s “Power” for the football team’s pregame entrance song, athletic director Ross Bjork revealed on Thursday (Oct. 27).
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Instead, he revealed that the team will use “sound effects & Aggie Drum Line transitioning to the War Hymn.”
After further reflection of options, we will not choose a song for the team entrance into Kyle Field-we will use sound effects & Aggie Drum Line transitioning to the War Hymn. The 12th Man creates the best environment in college football-see you on Saturday night! #BTHOolemiss https://t.co/1BmzibbZVr— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) October 28, 2022
Ye made headlines earlier this month at his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week for wearing a shirt emblazoned with the phrase “White Lives Matter” on its back, and featuring Black models in the shirt. The phrase is one that was adopted by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
He also went on an aggressive anti-Semitic rant on social media. After posting that he was about to go “[defcon] 3” on “Jewish people” over the weekend of Oct. 8, he was temporarily restricted from using both Instagram and Twitter.
In a since-deleted Drink Champs interview, Ye declared offensive remarks, blaming the murder of George Floyd on fentanyl and claiming that Jewish people are “[owning] the Black voice” through Black people wearing a Ralph Lauren shirt, “being signed to a record label, or having a Jewish manager, or being signed to a Jewish basketball team, or doing a movie on a Jewish platform like Disney.”
Several companies — including The Gap, Balenciaga, Adidas and more — have already terminated their relationships and brand deals with the rapper.
In an Instagram post on Thursday morning (Oct 27) addressed to Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel — who last week urged companies to stop working with West — the rapper who now goes by Ye wrote, “Ari Emanuel. I lost 2 billion dollars in one day. And I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am.”
Kanye West was escorted out of the Skechers office in Manhattan Beach, Calif., after the controversial MC showed up unannounced on Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 26). The company said in a statement that Ye was escorted out by two executives following his recent antisemitic remarks.
“Kanye West — also referred to as Ye — arrived unannounced and without invitation at one of Skechers’ corporate offices in Los Angeles,” the company said in a statement. “Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorized filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation.
“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” the statement continued. “We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech. The Company would like to again stress that West showed up unannounced and uninvited to Skechers corporate offices.”
Several companies and organizations have also dropped Ye recently over his racist and antisemetic remarks, including Adidas, Gap, Foot Locker and TJ Maxx.
“At TJX we do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or hate of any kind,” read a statement shared by TJ Maxx with CNN. “We have instructed our buying teams not to purchase this merchandise for sale in any of our stores globally.”
Forbes noted that the Chicago native lost his billionaire status when Adidas severed ties with him, dropping his net worth to $400 million — down from $1.5 billion with the Adidas deal.
“We will not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites,” a spokesperson for Foot Locker told CNN, adding that the company will remain “a partner with Adidas and carry a wide assortment of their collections.”
Ye’s current fall from grace began Oct. 3 when he featured shirts printed with the phrase “White Lives Matter” during his Paris Fashion Week show. A few days later, he was suspended from Twitter and Instagram for posting anti-Jewish hate speech, which continued in interviews with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, REVOLT’s Drink Champs and more.
Madame Tussauds is the latest brand to sever its ties with Kanye West amid his recent antisemitic comments.
On Wednesday (Oct. 26), the famous wax museum known for its celebrity figures issued a statement announcing its plans to pull Ye’s figure from the main display floor and into an archive.
“Ye’s figure has been retired from the attraction floor to our archive. Each profile earns their place at Madame Tussauds London and we listen to our guests and the public on who they expect to see at the attraction,” a spokesperson for Madame Tussauds told BBC.
Billboard has reached out for comment.
Though Madame Tussauds has several outposts around the world, there has never been a figure of the rapper in the United States, which includes locations in New York City, Orlando, San Francisco, Hollywood, Las Vegas and Nashville.
The removal of Ye’s wax figure from Madame Tussauds is one of the most recent developments in a week filled with actions against the rapper — on Tuesday alone, Adidas, Foot Locker and Gap all announced their respective brands would be making plans to remove all Yeezy products from their websites and physical retail stores. Losing the Adidas deal was a major loss for Ye, and resulted in his net worth dropping to $400 million and his removal from Forbes‘ billionaires list.
Earlier on Wednesday, TJ Maxx also announced that buyers for its retail locations have been advised to not purchase Yeezy products. Read our complete timeline of the consequences Ye has faced for his antisemitic comments and “White Lives Matter” shirts here.
Scholastic Play-By-Play Classics announced on Wednesday (Oct. 26) that it is dropping Kanye West‘s Donda Academy team from its season schedule following the rapper’s string of anti-Semitic and racist comments.
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“While we are firm in our reasoning for this decision, it does not diminish our heartache and regret for Donda’s hardworking athletes who will lose out the most as a result of Kanye’s actions,” the organization shared in a statement, according to TMZ, who first reported the news. “Unfortunately, we cannot in good conscience host an organization founded and directed by Mr. West at our events.”
The Donda Academy team was set to appear at the Dec. 11 event in Louisville.
Ye made headlines earlier this month at his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week for wearing a shirt emblazoned with the phrase “White Lives Matter” on its back, and featuring Black models in the shirt. The phrase is one that was adopted by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
He followed up on Twitter, using antisemitic rhetoric in his posts, then double down on his hate speech in interviews. Since then, his social media accounts have been suspended. Several companies — including The Gap, Balenciaga, Adidas and more — have already terminated their relationships and brand deals with the rapper.
Donda Sports also took a hit when the NBA’s Boston Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown and the NFL’s L.A. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald cut ties with the organization, taking to Twitter to condemn Ye’s hurtful language.
Kanye West longtime engineer Andrew Dawson is promising to donate his royalties for good, following West’s recent espousal of hate speech.
In an Instagram post Tuesday (Oct. 25), Dawson pledged to make donations from his royalties to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as Jewish and Civil Rights organizations.
“I have a resume I am proud of that represents decades of supporting the voices, visions, and creativity of talented artists,” Dawson wrote. “However, recent events compel me to be a supporter of more important voices at this time.”
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According to Dawson’s post, he has already made two donations.
While Dawson did not name West as the specific reason for the donations, the organization’s mentioned all support groups that West has recently targeted with hate speech. In recent weeks, West has worn a shirt that read “White Lives Matter” and made numerous antisemitic comments, which has led brands like Balenciaga, Gap and Adidas to distance themselves from the artist and entrepreneur.
Management for Dawson declined to comment further on the post.
Dawson has worked as West’s primary engineer for nearly two decades, beginning with West’s debut studio album, The College Dropout, in 2003. He has worked on eight of West’s albums, securing Grammy wins for 2005’s Late Registration, 2007’s Graduation and 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Dawson’s last credited work with West was the song “Heaven and Hell” off 2021’s Donda.
Record producer Mike Dean — who has also worked with West since The College Dropout — reposted Dawson’s note and commented on the image saying, “Careful tho. Those royalties will shrink. Sucks. He’s hurting all his collaborators too.”
Over the course of his career, Dawson has worked as an engineer, producer, mixer and co-writer on many popular albums. He has worked with Destiny’s Child, Common, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Beyonce, Teyana Taylor, Childish Gambino and Linkin Park, among others.
This week alone, West was also dropped by his agency CAA and producer MRC scrapped a documentary on the rapper.
Check out Dawson’s post below.