Rapper and former billionaire Kanye West was spotted wearing a T-shirt with a swastika design Thursday in Los Angeles, according to photos and video published by TMZ, weeks after he sparked outrage by selling swastika shirts on his website.
Kanye West sparked outrage earlier this month by selling swastika T-shirts on his website. (Photo by ... [+]
West, who has made antisemitic remarks for years, wore a white T-shirt with a swastika design while out in public in Los Angeles on Thursday, according to a 90-second video published by TMZ Friday afternoon.
West tweeted on Friday morning: “It was always a dream of mine to walk around with a Swastika T on.”
The shirt appears to be the same as those West sold on his Yeezy website earlier this month, which he advertised in a Super Bowl ad he purchased to run in the Los Angeles area.
In West’s bizarre Super Bowl ad, he filmed himself sitting in a dentist’s chair with an iPhone and told users to go to the website, where the swastika shirt was the only item available for purchase.
West’s online store was taken offline two days after the Super Bowl by e-commerce company Shopify, which said in a statement West’s store “did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms.”
Also on Thursday, West tweeted a request asking jewelers to help him make swastika chain designs.
West first sparked controversy earlier this month by unexpectedly appearing at the Grammy Awards alongside his wife, Bianca Censori, who wore a fur coat that she removed to reveal a completely see-through dress. He then blamed his bizarre public behavior, including his erratic tweets, on his autism diagnosis in a podcast interview. Days after the Grammys, West posted a barrage of tweets, many of which were antisemitic, including: “I love Hitler,” “Hitler was sooooo fresh” and “IM A NAZI.” In an apparent reference to companies that cut ties with West over his antisemitic remarks, he posted: “I LOVE WHEN JEWISH PEOPLE COME TO ME AND SAY THEY CANT WORK WITH ME ANYMORE ITS MY FAV.” In other bizarre posts, West pleaded for President Donald Trump to pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs amid his sex trafficking charges. West’s X account was deactivated on Feb. 10, but was reinstated days later. On Feb. 11, a former Yeezy staffer sued West in California superior court, alleging he compared himself to Hitler, sent her pornographic material and called her a “bitch” and other insults in text messages. According to her lawsuit, West texted her: “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler,” “Hail Hitler” and “I AM A NAZI.”
West previously went on a series of antisemitic rants in 2022, which ultimately tanked his fashion empire and ended his billionaire status. He tweeted that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and claimed “Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership,” and unnamed sources told CNN West had a longstanding fascination with Adolf Hitler and scrapped plans to name an album after the Nazi leader. His comments prompted Adidas to cut ties with him, ending a lucrative deal between the company and West’s Yeezy brand. The loss of the deal sent West’s net worth tumbling from about $2 billion to $400 million, according to Forbes estimates.
Kanye West Sued By Ex-Yeezy Staffer For Comparing Himself To Hitler, Calling Himself A Nazi (Forbes)