In case you missed it, Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, posted what was likely supposed to be an apology to the Jewish community on his Instagram the other day. The post, which was the “21 Jump Street” theatrical release poster, was captioned in the familiar Ye style of run-on sentences that are broken up in the style of multiple paragraphs. As usual, there is a lot to dissect in Ye’s post, so let’s dive in.
The caption beings with “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again.” A strong start! Jonah Hill is super loveable! Also, “21 Jump Street” is very funny, so at least we know that Mr. West has good taste. And let’s not ignore the fact that Ye did admit that he had a dislike of Jewish people. Suddenly his “I can’t be antisemitic” comments have magically lost their weight, and everyone can stop feeling crazy for accusing him of antisemitism. Not bad, not bad at all.
The next period-less sentence, “No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people,” is even better. This part really does feel like it belongs in an apology, as it has another admission of the fact that Ye has taken his anger out on Jewish people as a whole. However, I do wonder who the “one or two individuals” Ye mentioned are. A part of me thinks that one of these individuals could be Ye’s Jewish doctor, who, according to Ye, tried to kill him with mental health medication. That is, of course, just speculation, and I do not know Ye personally or what his interpersonal relationships are like.
With all these great steps, it seems like Ye has finally turned around! He is trying to undo the damage that he has done, both to his reputation and to his personal life. However, it seems like this is a "one step forward, three steps back" situation, because the next line is “No Christian can be labeled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew.”
I love when people get really into their religion, but using your religion as a way to get out of being accused of being hateful towards another group is not the way to go about things. This hurt to read, especially after he was doing so well with his apology-adjacent language. In fact, this wasn’t just a way to get out of his antisemitism, it was historically inaccurate. There have been many instances where Christians were the ones persecuting Jews (ever heard of the Spanish Inquisition?). Unfortunately, it appears that Ye is not actually taking accountability for his actions. He is instead using his born-again identity as a way to dodge the well-deserved accusations.
The final sentence of the caption is “Thank you Jonah Hill I love you,” which is a sweet way to end the post. But, it still doesn’t make up for the fact that this came very short of an apology. This is not the admission of guilt and promise to not repeat his behavior that is needed to express regret. I’m hoping for something better from him, but I will not be holding my breath.
Hadass Galili is a senior studying political science pre-law at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Hadass by tweeting her at @HadassGalili.
