Why Don't We Take Kanye West's Anti-Semitism More Seriously?
He sold out two back to back shows with 70,000 seat per. Where is cancel culture when you need it?
Earlier this month, Kanye West held two sold-out concerts at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. That’s 70,000 tickets per day and a $33 million payday for him, if The Shade Room is to be believed. He also didn’t do it alone. Lauryn Hill, Ceelo Green, and Travis Scott also attended.
My question is: why?
Kanye has a history of saying anti-Semitic things. He tweeted, “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” which got his Twitter account shut down. More famously, he claimed, “I can say antisemitic shit and Adidas cannot drop me”. Adidas ended the partnership shortly after. Also, in an unreleased interview with Tucker Carlson, Kanye also said, “I’d prefer my kids knew Chanukah than Kwanzaa, at least it would come with some financial engineering.”
These are not the only controversial things he’s said. There are a lot, including racist comments and stunts like saying “slavery was a choice” and wearing a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt. That’s all obviously derranged, and I can't stress enough how those comments should have also been career-ending. I think he “gets away” with those ones, because “well, he is black” is probably how many of his fans will excuse those comments.
But the anti-Semitic ones, how are those not sticking? He is not Jewish. Yet fans are still turning up for him, and other artists don’t feel nervous publicly supporting him.
I had a much more optimistic view of the world growing up. Until I got to my teens, I really thought things like racism, discrimination, and pedophilia were all things the public was united against. But it turns out a lot of people are racist, every marginalized group is still dealing with a lot of shit, and a pedophile is running the United States. What the fuck is going on.
I’ve accepted that people are just awful, no reason. But I am still mystified about Kanye and his public support. I don’t doubt he will always have fans on some level, but I can’t believe it’s to the point of selling out back-to-back shows.
So why don’t we take his anti-Semitism seriously?
I have no doubt Kanye has some anti-Semitic fans. Personally, I feel like the majority of his fans are people who just do not care. You know those types: they will have Jewish friends, Black friends, and gay friends, whatever, but they are not allies. If we started requiring Jewish people to wear stars again and brought back Jim Crow, they aren’t gonna say anything or advocate in any way, unless it affects them. They just do not care.
I also feel like there are people who will just heavily lean into any excuse. “He’s not really anti-Semitic, he’s mentally ill”. Kanye’s mental illness was never and will never be an excuse. Especially because he never addressed and apologized for it. He said those things during a mental health episode/crisis, okay, but then if he really did not mean it, I feel like the first thing he would have done was speak to it as soon as he was in a right state of mind.
I absolutely hate that Kanye continues to have a career. And I especially hate what it says about our society that he continues to have a career. It says there is a tolerance for anti-Semitism and racism. It says that you can do and say horrible things without consequences. And worst of all, it shows how apathetic people, public figures, and companies are about these things. Why was he able to sell so many tickets? Why did he have a venue willing to host him? Are we really shrugging our shoulders about this in 2026?
Christ. This is so bleak.
If we had to salvage one thing in this, though, it does provide a handy rebuttal to that anti-Semitic talking point of “Jews run the world and all the banks”. They run the world, but they can’t control Kanye? Is Kanye West bigger than banking? Please.
It’s up to all of us to signal what we are okay with. If you really, truly think anti-Semitism is bad, stop listening to his music. If someone you know is going to his show, say something. If his name comes up in conversation, try slipping in a reminder that he’s a terrible person.
People were risking their lives to hide Jewish families in their homes while the Holocaust was happening. It’s truly crazy that we went from that to trying to get people to stop listening to a few songs by one guy.
