World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has called for Kanye West’s music to be removed from all streaming services, citing the disgraced rapper’s “Nazism.”
The move, while an attempt to counteract West’s antisemitic messages, risks providing undue confirmation to his conspiracy theories about Jews, and helps his effort to portray himself as a victim of cancel culture.
In a letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek that was obtained by the New York Post, Lauder called it “unacceptable that neither Apple Music, nor Spotify have removed Mr. West’s music.”
“Kanye West’s antisemitic tirades go beyond trafficking in conspiracy theories. He is espousing Nazism in its purest, most hateful form, and is perhaps the singular embodiment of the alarming rise of Jew hatred in America,” the billionaire philanthropist wrote.
“As long as his hateful voice is carried on Apple and Spotify’s music streaming platforms, they are in league with those who wish harm to Jews the world over,” he said.
Apple and Spotify are “profiting off of Jewish hate,” Lauder maintained.
It’s hard to keep up with the antisemitic bile spewed by West, who legally changed his name to Ye, because there has been so much of it.
Most recently, he claimed on Gavin McInnes’ Censored.TV that Adolf Hitler’s bad reputation was “made by Jewish people” who “control the majority of the media,” and urged Jewish people to “forgive” Hitler.
Prior to that, he told Alex Jones on his InfoWars show that there were “a lot of things” he loved about the fascist leader.
Soon after his anti-Jewish tirades began, with Ye calling for “death con 3 on the Jewish people” several week ago, an enormous banner with the words “Kanye was right about the jews” was hung over a major Los Angeles freeway.
Kanye West’s music, however, while provocative in other ways, is not considered antisemitic. Many listeners had already stopped downloading his songs after his anti-Jewish campaign began.
In his letter, Lauder noted that while he is “relieved” Adidas ended its partnership with Ye, he thought “their delay in making what should have been a clear-cut decision to rid their halls of such a dangerous voice is unacceptable.”
Jewish people make up only about two per cent of the population of the U.S., but are the victims of more than 60 percent of all religious hate crimes. In New York last month, there was a 125% spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes compared with the same month in 2021, the Post noted.
Joel B. Pollak contributed to this article.
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