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submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

An explosive new investigation by the New York Times details how Adidas employees experienced frequent anti-Semitism from Grammy Award-winning rapper and Yeezy designer Kanye West for nearly a decade.

Adidas officially ended its partnership with the rapper and producer, who now goes by Ye, in October of 2022, after multiple virulently anti-Semitic remarks, including a tweet in which the rapper threatened to go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."

However, West's pattern of anti-Semitism dates back to at least 2013, according to the Times' reporting.

At the start of her report, Megan Twohey detailed how, in his initial meeting with Adidas executives at their German headquarters in 2013, West expressed his dissatisfaction with a proposed shoe design by taking a marker and drawing a swastika — the display of which is banned in Germany — on the design. He also reportedly told Jewish Adidas executive Jon Wexler, who at the time was Adidas' global director of entertainment and influencer marketing, to "kiss a picture of Hitler every day."

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[-] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 79 points 1 year ago

He ain’t right. Seriously, There’s something wrong with him.

[-] li10@feddit.uk 55 points 1 year ago

Yes.

People are constantly outraged by what he says, but the guy is actually sick and needs help.

Instead, yes men and the media just fuel his mental breakdowns.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago

Unless you're going to support involuntary commitment it's fair game to ridicule him. He will never seek help and until he does I will view him as the terrible person that he is. If he does seek help my opinion will change.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Also, his young fans model their behavior on him. Public ridicule is probably the only option to hold that back.

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

He didn't deny that when asked; he has mental issues and stopped taking his medication according to his Letterman interview.

[-] there1snospoon@ttrpg.network 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Right, but at a certain point not taking your medication and acting like an idiot aren’t just ‘oops, I did a goof’ things. Especially after a decade of this sort of behavior.

Your mental illness isn’t your fault. But it is your responsibility.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Exactly if I refuse Adderall and drive I put myself and others in danger. If it’s denied to me and I’m actively coerced by society to drive it’s different but if every choice is mine so are the easily expected consequences.

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[-] Vespair@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

Yes, I suffer from the exact same condition as Kanye, and while that may at times explain my erratic behavior, it never excuses it, not does it absolve me of the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of my words or actions. The way people treat Kanye's mental illness is insulting and infantiling, especially when Kanye himself seems to take no steps to reconcile it with his responsibility for his own actions.

Fuck Kanye and fuck anyone who tries to excuse his bullshit because "he's not well."

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[-] Zippit@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

He has a mental illness, but mental illness doesn't make you a racist.

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[-] Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world 53 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Does anyone know where I can find a full video of his Alex Jones interview where he’s completely out of his mind? Everything on YouTube is a commentary of it and I’m not giving Infowars a penny by visiting their site.

Edit: https://archive.org/details/ye-and-alex-jones-break-the-internet-in-must-see-new-interview_20221202

[-] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 33 points 1 year ago

The best part was that Alex Jones and whoever that other chud was were actually trying to be voices of reason lol.

[-] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

You know you're bad when someone like Alex Jones has to be the voice of reason.

[-] kromem@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Watching Alex Jones keep trying to throw him lifelines and him swat them away as the white supremacist sat on the side nodding and grinning was beyond amusing.

[-] o0joshua0o@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

Does Ye actually believe that Hitler wouldn't have sent him to a concentration camp?

[-] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Mental illness is a hell of a drug.

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

And, ironically, it's a second reason why Hitler would have had him killed. People with mental illnesses ended up in death camps alongside Jews, political prisoners, and people deemed "members of a lesser race."

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[-] Daqu@feddit.de 25 points 1 year ago
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[-] Mojojojo1993@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

Why isn't he charged with hate crime. If I said the same I'd be prosecuted

[-] FARTYSHARTBLAST@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

No you wouldn't, at least in America. For better or worse, free speech is pretty strongly protected.

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[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

You wouldn't be. The First Amendment would protect you against criminal charges for just expressing hatred towards a group.

Now, if you took action to harm a group and your speech was part of that attempt, then you could be prosecuted for a hate crime.

Now, this might seem like a bad thing. Why shouldn't we make "saying hateful things" a crime? The problem (well among the many problems) is "who decides what's a hateful statement?"

Most people would agree praising Hitler (for anything other than being the guy who killed Hitler) is hateful. What about praising Thomas Jefferson? He was a founding father and did laudable things in his life. On the other hand, he owned slaves and raped at least one of them. So would praising Thomas Jefferson be a hate crime?

Also, what if the Republicans came into power again and gained the ability to decide what is criminal hate speech? Imagine if hating black people, LGBTQ people, Jews, Muslims, etc was allowed, but even mildly criticizing white Christians was criminal hate speech.

[-] Neon@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Yes you would.

The US' first Amendment doesn't protect you from german Law. And this happened in Germany.

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Ah, you're right. I missed that significant detail. If Kayne had done this in the US, he would have been covered by the First Amendment (though Adidas would have been within their rights to cut off their deal because they didn't want to work with someone like him). By doing this in Germany? The First Amendment doesn't apply then.

[-] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

So much for the redemptive power of watching 21 Jump Street

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[-] minibyte@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

Kanye West looks like a black Garth Brooks.

[-] pimento64@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago

Not to be confused with Dark Garth Brooks, Chris Gaines.

[-] formergijoe@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

What? From the guy who said "I like Hitler?" I am shocked. Shocked, I say!

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[-] Miclux 8 points 1 year ago

He should check for brain cancer.

[-] xkforce@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

He has bipolar and he's rich. Either one of those factors could cause someone to say and do shit like this

[-] Miclux 22 points 1 year ago

Being bipolar or rich doesn't make you a neo nazi.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 year ago

No, but some mental issues could lead to paranoid and conspiratorial thinking.

Doesn't excuse it of course.

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[-] xkforce@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago
[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

I would say that they CAN make someone more vulnerable to it especially when they’re untreated

[-] li10@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It quite literally can.

Symptoms from the NHS website:

  • being delusional, having hallucinations and disturbed or illogical thinking
  • doing things that often have disastrous consequences
  • making decisions or saying things that are out of character and that others see as being risky or harmful

Those are things that can lead someone to act like he does.

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[-] FARTYSHARTBLAST@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I guess that sounds like something he'd say.

[-] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

Hitler would "love" to have him as a fan.

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this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
396 points (94.0% liked)

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