R&B/Hip-Hop

It looks like Kai Cenat and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) are back on the outs again. On Friday (Feb. 7), the popular streamer — who was on the cover of Billboard magazine in January — told his fans that he’s no longer going forward with a planned Japan stream with the troubled rap […]

Ye appeared to sign off from X on Sunday (Dec. 9) following a days long spree during which he posted dozens of antisemitic, misogynistic and homophobic messages, culminating with the rapper sharing a string of uncensored clips from pornographic movies.
According to KTLA, West signed off with a final post on Sunday night — just a few hours after appearing in a cryptic ad promoting his Yeezy shoe brand during Super Bowl LIX — writing, “I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.” At press time it did not appear as if Musk had responded to West shutting down his account and it was unclear if the move was West’s choice or if the account had been suspended by X; a spokesperson for West had not returned Billboard’s request for comment at press time.

The sign-off came after West posted another shot at frequent target Taylor Swift, who attended the game to support boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “If its about the culture… why are we letting Taylor Swift be seen on TV singing a song about taking a Black man down and accusing of things that can take a Black man down for life,” West, 47, wrote in one of his all-caps missives.

He then lashed out at Lamar, issuing the latest in a four-day deluge of antisemitic slurs. “Kendrick is being used by these white people and Jews and so am I,” Ye wrote. In prior days, West had also expressed his support for disgraced Bad Boy Records boss Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently in jail without bail awaiting a May trial on racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges.

“@realDonaldTrump please free my brother Puff,” wrote Ye of the formerly high-flying rap mogul who is also facing dozens of lawsuits from men and women who claim he sexually and physically assaulted them and forced or coerced them into sexual activity over the past 25+ years, accusations Combs has denied.

Ye’s comments also included repeated attacks on the Jewish people via stereotypes and antisemitic language, jokes about the disabled, homophobic slurs and a double-down on his praise for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (“I love Hitler”) and the statement “I’m a Nazi.”

The hate-filled posts drew alarm from the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who said in a statement that it was, “Another egregious display of antisemitism, racism and misogyny from Ye on his X account this morning. Just a few years ago, ADL found that 30 antisemitic indents nationwide were tied to Kanye’s 2022 antisemitic rants. We condemn this dangerous behavior and need to call it what it is: a flagrant and unequivocal display of hate.”

Ye also referenced Twitter/X owner and unofficial White House advisor Elon Musk’s repeated use of a Nazi-like salute at an inauguration event for Donald Trump last month, which was widely criticized; while not disavowing directly that the gesture was similar to the Nazi salute, Musk responded to critics at the time by saying they “need better dirty tricks.” “Elon stole my Nazi swag at the inauguration… yooo my guy get your own third rale,” Ye wrote on Friday, adding, “I can say Jew as much as I want. I can say Hitler as much as I want.”

Ye was kicked off X (then still known as Twitter) in October 2022 for antisemitic posts, then briefly reinstated in November of that year and re-suspended in November after he posted an image of a swastika intertwined with a Jewish star. Musk reinstated West’s account eight months later.

The manic posting spree, which at times found West firing off dozens of all-caps tweets per hour, prompted former Friends star David Schwimmer to ask Musk on Saturday to ban Ye from the platform. “This is so 2022. We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk,” the Jewish actor, 58, wrote on Instagram. “Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”

Following Schwimmer’s comments, Ye posted on X that Musk had unfollowed him. “Elon unfollowed me so I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be on twitter / X If I’m taken off go to,” he wrote. Last week, Ye’s hate posts were amplified by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who wrote “we’re back” in response to one of the rapper’s tweets, in which he wrote, “all you pleeeeease come at me… that’s who we spot the k–ns… let these white people and Jewish people tell you what to do and say.”

Ye’s barrage of hate speech was capped on Sunday by a string of posts featuring scenes from uncensored porn films, as well as some that appeared to target singer Cassie, who dated Combs for a decade. Cassie alleged in a since-settled lawsuit that she suffered years of rape and repeated physical abuse at Combs’ hands, including allegations that he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched; Diddy has denied those, and dozens of other allegations of abuse.

“When I [sic] man truly loves a woman he may express it in rage I empathize with both sides,” West wrote in the since deleted tweet alongside an image of Diddy and Cassie screenshotted from a video of Combs assaulting the singer in a hotel hallway. He doubled down on the misogynistic comments by appearing to downplay the seriousness of Cassie’s charges of intimate partner violence.

“Hey, question if someone were to beat up their girlfriend in public, would that be considered domestic violence, or is that outdoor violence, or is it just public indecency? … I’m just asking for a friend,” Ye wrote. The rapper was also reportedly selling a sweatshirt on his Yeezy site similar to the one Cassie was wearing in the widely seen 2016 assault video that he was calling “The Love Hoodie,” in seeming reference to Combs’ nickname “Love.”

At press time, however, it appeared that the only item for sale in the Yeezy store was a white t-shirt featuring a swastika.