Commenting on the “apology” tendered by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West for causing “unintended outbursts,” I quoted the text verbatim. I also drew on Christopher Kuo’s New York Times story reporting on the denial of anti-Semitism reflected in the title track of his forthcoming compact disc Vultures. On the album’s title track, the Times reports, “Ye raps that he cannot be antisemitic because he had sex with a Jewish woman.” I guessed that “had sex with” was probably not how he put it on the track.

Vultures has in fact been posted on YouTube. The lyrics to the title track are accessible via Google. Here is my expurgated version of the quote that the Times translated for its readers: “How I’m anti-Semitic? I just —— a Jewish bitch.” Now perhaps the Times can follow up with an op-ed column by Mr. Ye in which he expands on his logic.