Ye, the rap and fashion mogul formerly known as Kanye West, sparked new controversy Saturday night with a tweet pledging to take on “Jewish people” after finding himself restricted from his 18-million-follower Instagram account earlier in the day.
Ye, who spent the entire week in a media firestorm after appearing at a Paris fashion show with The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens wearing matching “White Lives Matter” shirts, asked Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, how he could be locked out of his Instagram account. But it was a tweet some 24 hours later that raised eyebrows – and accusations of anti-Semitism.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” Ye wrote in the since-deleted tweet. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Kanye's setting up to have the best Wikipedia page of all time pic.twitter.com/vAM9D2J0rk
— Third Eldest (@third_eldest) October 9, 2022
A day earlier, Ye had accused rapper and erstwhile pal Diddy, who had pleaded with him to stop pushing the “White Lives Matter” slogan, of being controlled by unnamed Jewish people. Ye told Diddy he would post their private conversation, and when he followed through, Instagram apparently restricted his account.
The social media company also deleted content from the billionaire’s profile, NBC News reported. A spokesperson for Meta, Instagram’s parent company, confirmed the company’s decision to Variety and said the temporary restriction is standard for accounts that violate guidelines multiple times.
Ye has more than 31 million followers on Twitter but had not posted anything in more than a year until Friday, when he tweeted a picture of a black baseball cap with “2024” emblazoned on the bill, touching off speculation that he was considering a presidential run. Ye told Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Friday night, in the second segment of a two-part interview, that he “will eventually” be president.
Ye followed up the baseball cap tweet early Saturday with one asking Zuckerberg, “How you gone (sic) kick me off Instagram?” which prompted Ye pal and possibly soon-to-be Twitter owner Elon Musk to offer a digital greeting.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!” Musk tweeted.
In addition to blasting Zuckerberg, Ye told Carlson Thursday that former President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had not served Trump well. He questioned Kushner’s motives in helping to secure the 2020 Abraham Accords, a U.S.-mediated treaty that established diplomatic relations between Israel and two Muslim nations, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
“I just think it was to make money,” Ye said. “I don’t know … I just think that that’s what they’re about is making money. I don’t think that they have the ability to make anything on their own. I think they were born into money.”
Ye most recently tweeted a call to support the uprising in Iran, where citizens led by hijab-eschewing women are rebelling against the repressive Islamist theocracy.
“Iranian youth are leading a revolution against 44 years of dictatorship,” Ye wrote. “The world needs to support them and honor their courage.”
Sunday afternoon, Twitter reportedly locked Ye out of his account, although his deleted tweets were still visible.