Kanye defends swastika shirts but tells world, ‘Don’t whip your Jews’

Rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West claims his rants are ‘Jew proof’ as he defends trying to sell swastika t-shirts and urges his followers not to ‘whip your Jews.’

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West returned to X/Twitter over the weekend with a new string of Jewish-themed comments just days after he shut down his account following a backlash over his social media posts earlier this month.

On Saturday, West’s account was reactivated, with the 47-year-old rapper posting a flurry of messages – mostly in all-caps – over the next few days.

The last message was posted on Tuesday, shortly after which West erased all of his comments.

During the four-day tweet-fest, West defended his attempt to sell swastika t-shirts on his website.

“IVE HAD MY SWASTIKA T SHIRT IDEA FOR OVER 8 YEARS IT WAS SO INTRIGUING TO ME THAT A SYMBOL HAD SO MUCH PROGRAMING IN IT,” West wrote, claiming that the widespread rejection of the symbol in the U.S. and Europe is the result of “programming.”

“I REMEMBER GOING TO JAPAN AND GASPING WHEN I SAW WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE SWASTIKA ON CLOTHING IT FELT ILLEGAL TO EVEN LOOK AT IT THATS HOW I HAD BEEN PROGRAMMED I THEN FOUND OUT THAT SWASTIKA HAD MANY DIFFERENT MEANINGS AND MANY DIFFERENT NAMES.”

While a plethora of cultures have used some form of the swastika symbol in contexts unrelated to antisemitism or racism, Germany’s Nazi Party used a form of the less common right-facing swastika and rotated it 45 degrees, creating the unique “Hakenkreuz” emblem, which representing Nazism before, during, and after the Nazi regime’s rule.

Earlier this month, West removed all items from his merchandise website, Yeezy.com, except for a t-shirt bearing a black Hakenkreuz on a white background.

Shortly afterward, Shopify, the e-commerce company which managed the site, removed Yeezy.com, allegeding that West had violated Shopify’s platform rules.

In one of his new tweets this week, West blamed a group of “specific Jews” for the removal of his site.

“AND A FEW SPECIFIC JEWS NOT THE ENTIRE RACE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BUT A FEW SPECIFIC JEWS CAME TOGETHER AND DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO DESTROY ME NOT PLAYING VICTIM JUST REFRESHING EVERYONES MEMORY.”

“No one seems to wanna produce me wittle t shirt,” West added.

Following his return to X, West also posted a link to a video clip of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan giving a sermon referencing Jews.

West also wrote a post urging his followers not to “whip your Jews,” a comment he called “a joke.”

“Do not whip your Jews That was a joke Keep everything non violent.”

The rapper also made repeated references to the idea of being “Jew proof,” a concept he did not elaborate on.

“THE IDEA OF BEING JEW PROOF IS,” West wrote in an open-ended post.

“WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE JEW PROOF ?”

“MY LAST TWITTER RAMPAGE WAS 90% JEW PROOF.”

In early February, West shuttered his X account following a string of bizarre tweets, including several that promoted antisemitism and expressed admiration for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

In one tweet, West denied the existence of antisemitism, calling it “just some bulls–t Jewish people made up to protect their bulls–t.”

Elsewhere, West declared, “I am a Nazi,” and “I love Hitler.”

In another post, West said he was “never apologizing for my Jewish comments.”