American rapper and businessman Kanye West, who now goes by ‘Ye’, has seen his X (formerly known as Twitter) account deactivated, following a series of concerning activities.
From listing a Swastika shirt for sale on Shopify, to hate filled rants against Jews and Taylor Swift, posts supporting alleged rapist Sean Diddy Combs, claiming autism as reason for being ‘weird’, posting naked pictures of wife Bianca Censori and more, Kanye West’s X account has reportedly been banned by Elon Musk, according to multiple reports.
The account did not turn up in searches on X’s official website early on February 11. We take a look at the series of worse-to-worst online decisions by Kanye.
Sale of Swastika Shirts, Anti-semetic Rants
A site advertised during the Super Bowl by the rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, is selling swastika shirts on a site hosted by Shopify Inc.
The musician and designer ran a commercial telling people to “go to yeezy.com” on Sunday during the National Football League’s championship — a sought-after slot renowned for its massive audience — according to The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets.
That website featured a single item for sale on Monday: a white shirt with a black Nazi swastika in its center, under the product name HH-01. The site’s source code and privacy policy show it is hosted by Shopify.
The Canadian e-commerce platform loosened its acceptable use rules last year. The policy still says users can’t do anything illegal when conducting business, but the company removed a clause banning “hateful content.”
Selling goods sporting a swastika is illegal in Germany and other countries. Some of those countries appear on the yeezy.com checkout page, but it’s unclear if the site ships to those places.
Ottawa-based Shopify also hosts a store that sells Holocaust denial merchandise, Bloomberg reported in November. Its executives have written in favor of free speech and have recently shared concerns about rising antisemitism.
Ye had shared posts in recent days praising Hitler on the social media network X, previously called Twitter, according to the CBC. On Monday, his X profile displayed the message “this account doesn’t exist.”
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Ye’s website in an X post on Monday.
Shopify and Yeezy.com did not reply to emailed requests for comment.
In 2022, German sports company Adidas AG ended a commercial partnership with Ye following comments and actions, including antisemitic posts, that it called “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.”
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
