Controversy and Consequence: The Lasting Shadows of Ye’s Antisemitic Controversy

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58 Controversy and Consequence: The Lasting Shadows of Ye’s Antisemitic Controversy

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Introduction

Ye, the rap superstar, producer and fashion designer, previously known as Kanye West, rose to fame in the early 2000’s, and since then, has garnered a vocal and passionate fanbase. One of the digital platforms where this fanbase participates is Reddit and after Ye’s notorious and public antisemitic comments last year, there was much activity on the platform’s forums. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the lasting relevance of his comments and how they have affected his fandom and social positioning as a powerful celebrity influencer, as well as how they have created a greater demand for moral accountability from public figures.

This paper claims that Ye’s numerous antisemitic statements and stance have caused complex and diverse reactions to appear in his fandom. As a result, this led to civic discussion on the platform, Reddit, for over a year, creating anti-fandom within the fandom, where users called for change in the social tendency to excuse discriminatory behaviours of celebrities, simply because they are talented and their work is well-loved, and beseeching the public for greater accountability and consequences with regards to his freedom of speech, which ultimately led to a shift in his power dynamics as a cultural icon and social influencer.

This situation draws focus on the intricate discourse between the artist’s controversial beliefs and the individual and collective thoughts of his fandom. It showcases the tension, disappointment and confusion in the community, and also, fosters thought as to why this is important. It prompts exploration into the implications of his statements on his career, the different views of his community and the civic discourse related to his statements.

In the music industry, Ye has been seen as an influential figure and a cultural icon for a long time and he is no stranger to controversies in his career. He has often had public discord surrounding him, from interrupting award show ceremonies to speaking his public opinions on live TV, he never hesitated to speak his mind and exercise his freedom of speech, regardless of public offence. Goldfeder notes that the IHRA definition of antisemitism is “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed towards Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewiscommuhnity institution and religious facilities” (2021, p.127) and antisemitic acts are “criminal when they are so defined by law (for example, denial of the Holocaust…)” (2021, p.129). One of Ye’s most notable controversies in recent years is the antisemitic comments he began making in October of 2022. Even from Ye’s long history of controversies, this one stood out as extremely problematic and heavily impactful. These comments ignited a storm of debates and anger that surrounded the artist and still do. To understand the effects that the controversy has it is imperative to first understand how everything unfolded.

The History of the Controversy

This controversy first began during Paris fashion week, where Ye and a few models wore “White Lives Matter” T-shirts. People viewed this as racist hate speech and Ye defended himself by explaining his negative opinion on the BLM movement (Dellatto, 2022). After this happened Ye went on numerous interviews where he spoke more about his opinions on BLM and other political stances. He was soon restricted on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) when he made negative comments towards Jewish people that could be seen as threatening. This includes the Tweet where he mentioned going “death con 3 on Jewish people” (Dellatto, 2022). From this point forward, Ye kept spreading hate speech, false information, and negative comments towards other celebrities and politicians. All of these events culminated into Ye being surrounded by controversy and negative attention. Following the weeks of Ye’s statements, he saw extreme backlash and consequences.

With this unfolding, Ye did not slow down or cease his comments. The most important part of this controversy is when Ye appeared on the talk show InfoWars hosted by Alex Jones. During this interview, Ye doubled down on his anti-semetic statements and began speaking on his admiration of Adolf Hitler and his love for the Nazi party as a whole (Bowenbank, 2023). From this point forward, he has been using Nazi imagery in his work and has been faced by continuous backlash.

These antisemitic statements were first voiced over a year ago but show consistent relevance in current audience discourse over the past year. This can be attributed to numerous factors. The longevity of the media allows the controversy to resurface and have new discourse built upon it. The omnipresence of media guarantees that Ye’s statements will stay accessible and be revisited. What Ye said was very offensive to an enormous group of people and this causes him to be seen as a “villain”. Furthermore, in the landscape of political and societal topics, the importance of accountability, responsibility and social justice is crucial in the public eye. Anytime Ye is shown in recent media, people revisit his past transgressions and relate it to accountability and social justice. This initial controversy has a lasting impact on Ye’s image and has significantly altered his career trajectory, which is proof to the modern relevance of the situation. While he has faced heavy backlash for his statements, he has only given a light apology and he still interacts with Nazi media. He still references this discourse in his media activities and while time moves forward, the repercussions of the controversy still persist and shape dialogue around Ye. Overall, what was said still holds relevance because it is still a topic that surrounds him, is discussed by fans, and has altered the products that he releases.

Social Media Selection

There are many popular social media platforms where audiences participate in the creation, distribution and reactions of content. Some examples of these platforms include Reddit, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). From these, Reddit was chosen for the primary analysis on audience behaviour. Other platforms curate user specific feeds that are a mix of everything they enjoy viewing; Reddit uses communities (subreddits) to foster discussions on specific topics. For this paper the subreddit r/Kanye was used to find posts relating to the controversy. The platform also uses an upvote / downvote system to prioritise content that other users liked.

Civic Fandom

In terms of civic fandom or fan-based citizenship, it can be defined as fan performances of citizenship, where they engage with society to fulfil cultural ethical obligations (Carter, 2020). When fandoms participate in fan activism, this can be seen as “fan-driven efforts to address civic or political issues through engagement with and strategic deployment of popular culture content” (M. Brough & Shresthova, 2012). Ye’s fans participated in civic discussion over the last year to address his statements and actions and give them social value. Monk-Payton argues that Ye’s “embrace of antagonism propels not only his fame but also his increasing notoriety, which is predicated on negative affect made manifest through his persona and artworks” and additionally, “the discourse on West cannot ignore his bipolar disorder diagnosis” (2023, p.22) . Although West was known for being generally “anti” as he self-described, his fandom would often take his diagnosis into account and use it as a rationale for his behaviours. In fact, his transparency and openness has even led fans to further identify with him. The media is fashioned in such a way that audiences are encouraged to form imaginary relationships with fans through which they find identification with them, most commonly via admiration and aspiration to their own self-image (Click et al., 2013, p.362). Ye’s fans admired him and referred to him as a “hero” and “legend”. However, when analyzing the fandom’s participation on Reddit over the last year, following his antisemitic comments, it appears that they no longer look to his diagnosis to excuse his behaviours. While there are still a number of audience members who chose to completely ignore or even justify all of the controversy via their audience participation and instead, expressed their persisting love for him, much of the virtual interactions of the fandom on Reddit drew a moral line and the outcome has been the loss of brand deals, billionaire status and social standing both outside of and within his fanbase.

Anti Fandom

According to Liew, Gray describes anti-fans as individuals ‘who strongly dislike a given text or genre, considering it inane, stupid, morally bankrupt and/or aesthetic drivel’ (2019, p.3). Liew describes it as moral policing, while still committing to and engaging with a text (2019, p. iii). One of the most fascinating aspects of anti-fandoms is that they can exist within a fandom and audiences can participate in and fluctuate between both. Ye’s comments sparked anti-fandom within his fandom and Reddit users went so far as to rapidly change his Subreddit and instead, dedicated it to someone he considered a rival: Taylor Swift (see Image A1). The Subreddit thread was entitled, “This is now a Taylor Swift Subreddit. We had a good run fellas”. Users took to the platform to share Swift’s lyrics, such as, “Now we got bad blood”, representing affective solidarity within the fandom, in terms of their discontent.

Recent Media

Another example of this audience fluctuation between fandom and anti-fandom was noted when analyzing and comparing Reddit threads from a year ago to threads posted within the last few months. One middle school social studies teacher, who described himself as a past fan, posted to Reddit a year ago about the negative social impact that Ye’s statements have had on his students and how it is causing them to make antisemitic comments and express disbelief in the Holocaust because they look up to him as a celebrity, and thus, absorbed his public opinions. The teacher shared his concern and frustration and explained that he has had to rearrange his class to educate on the Holocaust (see Image A2). Meanwhile, in comparison, another Reddit forum from 25 days ago included a photo of class slides which featured Ye and his antisemitic commentary from last year, explaining that their teacher used him as part of a Holocaust class in high school (see Image A3 ). The fact that both Reddit forums dealt with the topic from a year ago, when his statements were just made, to just 25 days ago, shows that his comments have made a reverberating social impact to the point that he is being used in educational settings as a negative example, even by his own fans.

There is a video that was posted to Reddit and linked to a YouTube video from September 2023, where a fan interviewed various pedestrians about their views on Ye (see Image A4 ). Most interviewees described him as “crazy”, empathised with his mental health issues, praised his rise to success and expressed enjoyment of his music, but almost all of them answered a resounding “No” when asked if they thought he was a good role model, particularly citing his antisemitic comments. Analysis and comparison of these Reddit posts suggest that there has been a shift in Ye’s power dynamic because his audience no longer engages with him as a positive influence to aspire to, or a beloved celebrity to identify with, even despite his accomplishments; instead, they see him as a talented artist who can be commended on nothing but his art. This pattern is observable because again, there is evident affective solidarity on Reddit in the audience’s change of opinion on Ye.

There are many factors that link this controversy to the present day. When looking at this discourse from a corporate standpoint, the statements that he made had extreme consequences that have altered his work as a musician, fashion designer and his life overall. After his statements, he was quickly dropped by multiple fashion companies, these include (but aren’t limited to): Balenciaga, Gap and Foot Locker (Bowenbank, 2023). These all affected Ye in major ways but the major hit was when Adidas, the German sportswear giant, severed ties with Ye. Their relationship has been strained for a while but after Ye’s statements Adidas made the decision to drop him as a designer. This resulted in the company losing an estimate of €250,000 (Storbeck, 2022). Along with these consequences, numerous artists, celebrities and politicians speak negatively about Ye because of what he decided to say and his radio play dropped by over 20% (Bowenbank, 2023). The culmination of these events caused Ye to lose millions in royalties and revenue, it also resulted in him temporarily losing the billionaire status (Financieras, 2022).

Ye’s fanbase has also taken a giant hit from the controversy. In the present day, the discourse is still consistently referenced in conversations about Ye. For example, when the famous rapper, Travis Scott released his most recent studio album – Utopia – Ye appeared on stage at one of the concerts from the tour (see Image A5). Travis Scott expressed his love of Ye and the importance that his influence has had over the years. This caused Travis Scott to get hate by various communities because many people believe that Ye should be cancelled.

More recently, Ye is supposed to release a collaboration album with rapper Ty Dolla $ign relatively soon. Much controversy is surrounding this. Ye’s audience is still split from his statements. Some communities are happy to see him releasing new music while others believe that he should not be allowed to be in the media any longer. Furthermore, more controversy surrounds this album as the album cover is being accused of Nazism. The artwork for the album cover is from 1830 and was made by the landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich (Johnson, 2023). Friedrich was one or Hitler’s most liked artists and his work was regularly used to promote the Nazi ideology (Johnson, 2023). This has caused communities to go on social media and complain about the imagery. Another hot topic from the album was a line that Ye said on the single Vultures (see Image A6). On the track Ye said “How am I Antisemitic, I just f*cked a Jewish b*tch”. This was faced by a mix of backlash and support. Many people say they won’t support any of his new music or they don’t enjoy listening to him anymore while others hype up the line.

Another recent scenario that fostered discourse of his antisemitic statements is that Ye recently made a new post on X, where he put the link to a website called “yews.news”, along with the reveal of a new Head of Design, Gosha Rubchinskiy, for Ye’s fashion company, Yeezy (see Image A7). By affiliating himself with Rubchinskiy, Ye linked himself to another controversial celebrity, accused of sending provocative messages to a minor. This is the first time Ye posted on X (Formerly Twitter) in a while. This resulted in extremely mixed views in the comments. Some fans are grateful to see him posting again, while others are expressing anger about his appearance on the website, where he was previously banned for offensive posts. This discourse is further expanded on in Reddit (see Image A8) where people are complaining about the website and the new Head of Design. The link to his post on X is featured on Reddit and some of the comments on X even call for him to be banned again. It is clear that there is significant audience division, where some anti-fans do not believe he should be granted a large forum for public speech, considering it a social injustice to allow him to share discriminatory comments. Meanwhile, on the same post on X, many fans celebrate the mere fact that he has made a post and welcome him back calling him “king” and “legend”, showing that there is still a social desire for him to have his platform, not just to make music, but to share his opinions, for this is the main purpose of X. Some even commented that he should still run for president, therefore, supporting his controversial political views. Ye’s fandom demonstrates that there is still a demand for him to have a public forum, while there are also many audience members who oscillate between the fandom and anti-fandom, expressing both positive and negative sentiments about him. It is certain that despite a mix of audience responses, over the past year on Reddit, the affective dimension of audience dismay and reproach has continued to persist on a large scale and this has permeated everything he does, altering his social status and shifting his power dynamic as a celebrity and influencer.

Conclusion

The paper written above provides ample context and reason for how this initial controversy has relevance today and the way it altered Ye’s career trajectory, as well as added to the social discourse on social accountability for celebrities. Ye’s influence in the fashion world has greatly decreased over the past year as all major fashion distributors made the decision to cease selling his products. This has a continuous effect on his audiences, including people who don’t care for his music or statements but enjoy his fashion designs. After the controversy, Ye has somewhat embraced the comments he made by continuously posting and spreading media that relates to the Nazi party. This influence is seen in the fashion he wears, the media he creates, and the effect he has on audiences.

In conclusion, the analysis of Ye’s antisemitic comments and the resulting audience participation reveal an interesting interaction between his personal beliefs, audience reactions, and social discourse. The controversy that first began during Paris Fashion Week snowballed into what we see today. Ye kept appearing in interviews, where he continuously spoke on Nazis and Jews. These conversations led to major consequences based on the rapper’s near unapologetic stance on the topic. My paper shows the lasting relevance of his statements and the impact they have had on his fans, influence, and social standing; this was done by using Reddit to focus on his fanbase and analyse their views. The utilisation of Reddit allowed key aspects and themes to be noticed, such as, the emergence of anti-fandom, the want for accountability, the intense discourse on Ye’s statements, and the multifaceted reactions from the community. This controversy first began slightly over a year ago but has proven to be an active discourse that impacts current virtual participation about the rapper; shaping dialogues, altering educational content, and changing the path of his career. This situation contributes to a greater dialogue about virtual audiences and the power of their affective response to immediately and constantly call for greater social accountability and justice when it comes to celebrities and their actions, and demonstrates that their conversations can lead to direct consequences for those who choose not to adhere to socio-political policies and contracts, such as non-discrimination.

References

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Dellatto, Marisa. “Kanye West’s Antisemitic, Troubling Behavior—Here’s Everything He’s Said in Recent Weeks.” Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/12/02/kanye-wests-anti-semitic-troubling-behavior-heres-everything-hes-said-in-recent-weeks/?sh=3ce6bb906de3. Accessed 15 Dec. 2023.

Goldfeder, M. (2021). Defining antisemitism. Seton Hall L. Rev., 52(119). https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1808&context=shlr

Johnson, Christopher. “Kanye West and Ty Dolla $Ign’s Vultures Cover Accused of Calling for Nazism.” WECB. www.wecb.fm/kanye-west-and-ty-dolla-igns-vultures-cover-accused-of-calling-for-nazism/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2023.

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Appendix A

Social Media Content

This appendix provides images and links to all social media content used throught out this paper.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/za04u1/this_is_now_a_taylor_swift_subreddit_we_had_a/

Image A1. Shows the fandoms negative reaction by them supporting Taylor Swift.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/zg66cy/im_a_middle_school_social_studies_teacher_my/

Image A2. A Middle school teachers experience during the controversy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kanyewest/comments/17zgm2h/my_teacher_showed_this_in_my_holocaust_class_in/

Image A3. A High School Teachers lecture material after the controversy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/16jg42k/is_kanye_west_crazy/

Image A4. A video where pedestrians are asked to comment on their views of Ye.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/15kvb1t/there_is_no_utopia_without_kanye_west_there_is_no/