With alarming irony, Kanye West hit up social media late to disavow antisemitism. Still, while doing so, he also hopped on Twitter to promote his now-banned antisemitic track “Heil Hitler.” The timing could not be more jarring: Hours before, two staffers at the Israeli Embassy were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
The couple who died, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were believed to be on the verge of becoming engaged. Their lives were taken too soon in what law enforcement officials are describing as a hate-fueled attack. The suspected shooter, 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago and the rapper’s hometown was arrested at the scene after yelling “Free, free Palestine,” according to reports.
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“I ’m Done With Antisemitism,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “I love all people.” In one of his other recent posts, he continued in his signature, sermon-like tone:
“TRUE PEACE COMES FROM GODS TRUTH TURN AWAY FROM FAMES ILLUSION AND DISCOVER REAL LOVE IS WHAT BINDS ALL PEOPLE PASS OVER IT AND LEAVE DEVIATION BEHIND.”
He closed with what sounded like a sincere plea: “God, forgive me for the pain that I’ve caused.”
For a beat, it felt like West was taking some accountability for the damage caused by his past remarks. After all, this is the same performer who this year previously announced, “I love Hitler,” “I’m a nazi,” and “I’M NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS.”
But all of that seemed to unravel a little over an hour later as he reposted a video of his choir mock-preaching and chanting verses of “Heil Hitler” on Diddy’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The same song is already gone from most major outlets except Twitter, which Kanye still treats as his mouthpiece, for better and worse.
The timing of Kanye’s posts coming as they did in the wake of a real antisemitic attack on the world and the World Wide Web made his online pivot seem more performance art than truly from the heart. On social media and elsewhere, critics rushed to note that words alone, without action, seem hollow when they’re immediately followed by further provocation.
His concert in South Korea was canceled in the wake of the song’s release. But Kanye refuses to be thwarted, and he is calling his “art” no matter how much of an uproar it causes all around the world.
Whether or not Kanye is recklessly playing with fire for attention or is just incapable of extricating himself from the chaos he conjures, there’s no question his messages are causing genuine damage. Deaths, however, make contradictions more than odd; they make them lethal.
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