If you’ve opened Instagram in the last month, you’ve probably seen at least 1 post about or by American rapper Kanye West. Mr. West has captivated social media recently, but not in a good way.
For the past year or so, Kanye has solidified his social media presence through outlandish posts, including screenshots of text conversations between business colleagues, friends, and former wife Kim Kardashian, hoping to “expose” the wrongness of their messages and break down the celebrity status of others. Though, through doing so, he seems to have only hurt himself.
Kanye has always been one for making statements, not only through his lucrative business partnerships with brands like Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga, but also through his social media. He is notorious for posting outrageous things and quickly deleting them only hours later, keeping his fans on their toes. Though, recently this has gotten him into more trouble than he may have expected.
On October 14, 2022, Mr. West wrote disgusting remarks about Jewish people on his Twitter, referencing the Holocaust but openly saying he “can’t be antisemitic.” This exploded all over the media, pointing out the actual harm Kanye’s words have on others.
His business partners took no rest ending all partnerships with him directly after the comment. Mr. West lost his billionaire status after being dropped by Adidas, Balenciaga, Gap, his own lawyer, his talent agency, and having his documentary shelved.
You would think after a rightful punishment of this degree, Kanye would issue a formal apology. However, he took no rest in making his opinion heard on social media about the incident.
Many mainstream celebrities seem to see no issue with doing problematic things since they know they have enough money and have such die-hard fans. However, actions like this cannot go unrecognized or unpunished. There are little people in the world with such a dramatic influence on American society as Kanye, and for him to use his platform for such harm is nothing but a disgusting and shameful waste.
Many may wonder if this statement by Kanye is just another tactic for him to gain social media attention. Though, former employees of his had no problem telling media outlets about the true extent of his antisemitic beliefs, all stemming from WWII ideologies.
I don’t believe it is safe to have people with such power influencing the general public like Kanye has been. The attack of the Capitol on January 6 is just one example of the grip cult followings and hate speech can have on the general public, leading to violence and all stemming from one person of power.
Social media networks Instagram and Twitter took no problem in restricting Kanye’s account following the comment, though recently these restrictions have been removed. Powerful people such as Elon Musk only congratulate his return instead of making statements about the horrendous nature of his actions.
This makes me wonder who has the power to silence oppressors, especially if people in power seem to have no problem in hyping them up? Cancel culture is real, and I hope the strong minds of Gen Z and other generations can punish oppressors like Kanye before his words turn into actions.