Kanye West's anti-Semitic comments directly inspired over 30 incidents of vandalism, harassment, and propaganda against Jewish people, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.
Published Sunday, the report documented anti-Semitic incidents since October 2022 that were directly tied to remarks from West — who now goes by Ye. The rapper drew attention last year for a series of anti-Semitic remarks, including threatening to "go [defcon] 3 on Jewish people," and openly praising Adolf Hitler.
Many of the incidents took place on college campuses, with the slogan “Ye is Right” appearing in vandalism, large display banners, and distributed propaganda leaflets. Some involved violence, as a Jewish man in Maryland was assaulted in a grocery store by a group shouting “Yeah, do it for Kanye!”
White supremacists Tyler Russell and Dalton Clodfelter launched a "road trip" to host “Ye is right, change my mind” events at a series of universities. They began at Florida Atlantic University on January 18, 2023, to endorse Ye's 2024 presidential campaign. They also hosted events at the University of Alabama and several other Florida colleges.
The events are spaces where extremists espouse Holocaust denial and revere for the Nazis, including claims that Jewish organizations are “trying to take away” people’s bank accounts and hindering free speech.
There have been over 10,000 mentions of the "Ye is right" slogan on Twitter since October, reaching more than six million users. Following the January events, engagement with the hashtag spiked to its highest level since they first emerged last year.
The ADL report also noted that anti-Semitism has increased on Twitter since Elon Musk's takeover of the platform. Hate crimes against Jewish people have also been increasing as a whole in recent years.
The ADL report reads: “These incidents ... demonstrate how references to Ye, often paired with swastikas or other anti-Semitic slurs, have become mainstream shorthand for the hatred of — or a desire to commit violence against — Jewish people."
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