Allegedly, antisemitic rants are nothing new for Kanye West. Associates and former employees claim the rapper continuously used hate-fueled comments and had an “obsession” with Nazis and Hitler, according to NBC News. The news outlet reports that West paid a settlement to a former employee who alleged the rapper used antisemitic language in the workplace.
Court documents include statements from six people who worked with the rapper over the past five years. The workers alleged they heard West praise Adolf Hitler or mention conspiracy theories about Jewish people. Court documents did not reveal the identity of the employee who received the settlement.
According to CNN, the employee claimed West spoke openly about reading Mein Kampf, Hitler’s 1925 autobiographical manifesto, and expressed his “admiration” for the Nazis and Hitler for their use of propaganda. The employee detailed West’s unhealthy obsession with Hitler. “He would praise Hitler by saying how incredible it was that he was able to accumulate so much power and would talk about all the great things he and the Nazi Party achieved for the German people,” the employee stated, CNN reports.
Although his erratic behavior seemed only apparent at the workplace, the anonymous employee claimed that West’s close friends were aware of his dark interests.
West, who now goes by “Ye,” allegedly required multiple employees to sign NDAs.
Three former employees and collaborators alleged they recall multiple instances of West using antisemitic language. Three others mentioned a 2018 incident where Ye allegedly went on an antisemitic tirade in an interview at TMZ’s offices.
Van Lathan Jr., a former TMZ employee who confronted West during a 2018 interview in which West said slavery “sounds like a choice,” recently alleged on a podcast that West also made antisemitic comments that TMZ did not release publicly.
During an episode of Higher Learning, Lathan alleged that when the rapper came to TMZ, “he said that stuff, and they took it out of the interview. … He said something like, ‘I love Hitler, I love Nazis.’ Something to that effect when he was there. And they took it out of the interview for whatever reason. It wasn’t my decision.”
According to NBC News, Ryder Ripps, a conceptual artist who worked with West from 2014 to 2018, alleged that he recalls multiple times when Ye spoke positively about Hitler and the Nazis.
He claimed the “Donda” rapper mentioned anti-Jewish conspiracies during meetings in the summer and fall of 2018.
Ripps, who is Jewish, said he rebutted Ye’s comments at the time but thought they “didn’t seem that dangerous,” NBC News reports.
However, after West’s most recent statements, Ripps said he sees things differently. “This is dangerous and disgusting and actually violent,” he said.
“With this pattern that’s happening and with the doubling and tripling down of all this, it’s pretty obvious that this is some kind of disgusting, hate-filled, strange Nazi obsession,” Ripps continued.
As Blavity previously reported, West has lost his billionaire status due to his antisemitic comments.
West has lost his lucrative fashion contracts with Gap, Balenciaga and Adidas.
He is also seeking to find a permanent location for Donda Academy.
