There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kanye West is an antisemite.
His dark and disturbing descent into the embrace of Nazism began in October when he posted on Twitter that he would be “going death con 3 on Jewish people” before adding that he could not be antisemitic because “black people are actually Jew [sic].”
In the weeks that followed, Kanye continued his all-out assault on the Jewish people, including giving interviews in which he conspiratorially suggested Jews wield financial control over the world and blamed “Jewish Zionists” for newspaper stories about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her then-partner Pete Davidson.
He also rebuffed suggestions he educates himself by paying a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles by claiming that the Planned Parenthood service is the black version of the museum.
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Despite brands, record labels and partners cutting ties with him, Kanye continued. This month, he was banned from Twitter by the social media network’s new owner Elon Musk after tweeting an image of a swastika blended with a Star of David.
The ban came just hours after he gave an interview to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in which he stated he sees “good things about Hitler” and claimed the Nazis “did good things” and that people should stop “dissing the Nazis all the time.”
Kanye West on Alex Jones: “I see good things about Hitler …. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.” pic.twitter.com/vegESNsrT4
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) December 1, 2022
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It is, therefore, rather worrying that veteran Sky News journalist Anna Jones was seemingly so reluctant to call out Kanye West’s antisemitism and robustly challenge someone who has defended the Chicago-born rapper.
In a December 2 interview with artist Akon — ostensibly to promote the singer’s new music — Jones asked Akon about his refusal to condemn Kanye’s vile comments:
I do want to touch on some of the comments you’ve made about Kanye West because he’s been in the news a lot. A lot of controversies, including a Twitter ban for antisemitic comments. He’s been banned again by Elon Musk this morning for inciting violence… But you’ve shown some support for him. Why have you done that?”
Akon responded: “I show support for opinion and I think people will always have a specific opinion and I think the moment we get to the place where we close our minds up to other people’s opinion, it kind of doesn’t allow us to get to better know each other, better know our mindsets and more than anything better know our movements.”
He added: “I think sometimes we should open up our minds and let things play all the way out and better understand the situation so we have a better solution for it.”
Akon defending Kanye by calling his antisemitic comments a matter of opinion and saying that Jews shouldn’t take his comments personally until we understand the situation. I’m horrified and speechless pic.twitter.com/ifBdGxtqKR
— Liv Marks (@OliviaLilyMarks) December 2, 2022
Yet, rather than challenge or even ask Akon to elaborate on why he thinks people should not “close [their] minds to other people’s opinions” — in Kanye’s case, support for Nazism — Anna Jones, in what could only be described as the most softball of questions, replied: “I know you’ve said you don’t agree with his comments but if they’re really offensive, will you still continue to back him?”
First, there is no “if” about whether Kanye’s comments are offensive.
Second, why Jones failed to even challenge Akon on his support for someone defending the indefensible is baffling.
Her easy line of questioning allows Akon to take no accountability for his defense of Kanye, and rather paves the way for him to give an even more waffling and meaningless response:
I’m a backer of the right to believe what you want to believe. The day me and [Kanye] have a conversation, I will give him my point of view on why I disagree… It’s my job to understand why he’s viewing it that way. So I think conversation and communication is always the key but sometimes we block that out and you never can get anywhere if you’re not communicating.”
At this point, Jones cut in to ask whether it troubles Akon that Kanye makes “really offensive comments,” to which Akon replies “not really” because such comments don’t “affect [him] personally,” while suggesting that people who are affected by Kanye’s outbursts might take things “too personal [sic].”
How fortunate for Akon that he feels Jews should not take the extermination of six million of their ancestors too personally.
How profoundly disturbing that Sky’s Anna Jones did not feel the need to properly probe this ignorant and antisemitic view.
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