If Kanye West wants truly forgiveness, it’s going to be a long, arduous road to get it.
Kanye West has been spouting antisemitic rhetoric since 2022, when he daftly proclaimed on Twitter (X) that he was about to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” The backlash was swift, and he was immediately dropped by his agency CAA, production company MRC, adidas, Gap and Balenciaga.
But rather than repent, West doubled down and appeared on Info Wars to proudly proclaim he’s a Nazi and gush about how much he loves Adolf Hitler. Three years later and West’s words and actions have left a wake of wreckage. But on Thursday (May 22), West tweeted out of nowhere that he was “done with antisemitism” and asked for forgiveness, claiming he was “sorry” for the pain he caused.
Then less than an hour later, West promoted his latest song, “Heil Hitler.” Do the math.
Most people aren’t buying his hallow apology, especially those in the Jewish community.
“Words are cheap, what matters is action,” Alyssa Hochfelder, a fitness and nutrition coach based in Colorado, said. “Ye’s apology doesn’t erase the real world consequences of his antisemitic rhetoric. There were at least 59 documented antisemitic incidents directly citing his name.
“This isn’t hypothetical harm lives were actually threatened and communities lived in fear. He didn’t just spew hate, he added fuel to an already rising fire of antisemitism. So until Ye puts in real, sustained work like education, reparations, and community his words don’t mean s###.”
Of course, we’ve been here before. West has walked back his inflammatory comments before—and his words seem oddly familiar. In 2023, he wrote in Hebrew, “It was not my intention to offend or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.”
But it wasn’t long before he was back at it. Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz isn’t convinced West meant a single word of his apology—now or back then.
“Kanye is a product of our attention economy,” Kosha says. “He is experimenting with how desensitized we are to hatred. When Joe Rogan jokes about how catchy it is or how the Hip-Hop community says ‘Oh, he’s crazy’ or the Jewish community says ‘don’t talk about him,’ he wants that.
“We are not necessarily avoiding Kanye; we are avoiding to the opportunity to learn about how the cancer of jew hatred—antisemitism—works in society and is consistently reinventing itself. It’s like, ‘If Kanye can bounce back and forth, why can’t everybody.’ But I don’t buy [West’s apology]. If we have an easy re-entry without consequence, anyone will do it.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has been extremely vocal about its stance on Kanye West. Shortly after the release of “Heil Hitler,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch noted, “This is blatant antisemitism, and it’s disgusting. Ye is profiting off of Jew-hatred, and the music industry needs to step up and speak out against this obscenity.”
The AJC pointed out it was just West’s latest antisemitic outburst in 2025. On February 7, he posted things like “I’m a Nazi” and “Some of my best friends are Jewish and I don’t trust any of them,” alongside remarks targeting people with disabilities and other racial groups.
Just days prior, West had run a Super Bowl ad in select markets directing viewers to his online store, which was found to be selling a $20 t-shirt emblazoned with a black s####### before being taken offline.
If Kanye West wants forgiveness, it’s going to be a long, arduous road for him to get it.
