Kanye West was likely the first rap artist whose music I truly fell in love with. I was a mere kindergarten student when the rap phenom blessed my ears for the first time. I vividly remember back in 2007 when his electro-infused arena rap masterpiece “Graduation” released, and his next big hit “Stronger” was climbing up the charts. I was 6 years old, and I had just learned how to make a song repeat on my iPod Nano so I could listen to the Daft Punk-sampled classic all day long. It felt like he could do no wrong.
But that was 15 years ago.
A lot has changed since the antiquity of the mid-2000s, especially for someone like West. His controversial behavior is nothing new, notably acknowledged after his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. But years later after several phases of unfiltered Twitter rants and even claiming that slavery was a “choice” in 2018, West crossed a new line.
Now, his tendentious remarks are making headlines once again. The Chicago rapper, whose legal name is now Ye, has been blasted after debuting a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his surprise Yeezy show at Paris Fashion Week last month. Within a week, he took to Instagram to post a series of antisemitic remarks, including a comment from a screenshotted text conversation with rapper Diddy in which he suggested that Diddy was being controlled by Jewish people.
After his Instagram account was restricted shortly after, he went to Twitter after two years of inactivity where he continued to lash out at the Jewish community. His Twitter account was soon locked as well for violating the platform’s policy on hate speech. The American Jewish Committee responded with a video statement condemning his behavior and calling his posts “dangerous.”
And it doesn’t stop there. On Oct. 15, he made a surprise appearance on the podcast “Drink Champs” where he continued to double down on antisemitic tropes. He even claimed that George Floyd, an African American man who was suffocated to death by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, was actually killed by a fentanyl overdose, not by the police officer. Floyd’s family plans to file a $250 million lawsuit against Ye for harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress.
By the end of the month, high-fashion label Balenciaga ended their relationship with Ye, canceling any future projects relating to the rapper. Adidas followed suit just days after facing public pressure, announcing the termination of their partnership and the discontinuation of all production of Yeezy products immediately.
“Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company said in the statement. Ye was also cut off from his record deal with Def Jam and his relationship with JPMorgan Chase.
The backlash continued with music streaming service Spotify, whose chief Daniel Ek criticized his recent comments but ruled that the service would not remove his music unless his label requested it. The music itself does not violate their anti-hate policies, Ek told Reuters, but if Ye’s label requested the removal of his catalog from the platform, “Obviously we’ll respect their wishes,” Ek said.
Of course, Ye isn’t the only figure in the entertainment industry whose actions have been met with widespread opprobrium. In these cases, the same debate is often brought up — can we separate the art from the artist? Can we enjoy an artist’s work without endorsing their personal behavior and values outside of it?
Matthew Duncan, a UO junior majoring in popular music studies, is a fan of Ye’s music but feels like the listening experience will be tainted going forward.
“I believe in separating an artist from their creations, but I feel like it impacts how I enjoy their music,” he said.
Some people hold the opinion that subscribing to the work of an artist shows your support for the artist in all facets. Listening to Ye’s music, for example, would demonstrate your allegiance to him as a person as well. Others believe that a distinction can be made between the two — it’s possible to appreciate the quality of their work as its own entity. Thus, support of the art does not imply support of the artist in their values and decisions.
Personally, I have usually stood by the rationalization of the latter, agreeing that one’s art does not always reflect who they are as human beings beyond their work. But as Ye continues to stand by his hateful words and actions in spite of the repercussions he has already received, it’s getting much harder to support anything related to him — even his music.
I believe with the case of Ye, there comes a time when a line can be crossed, and a separation between the art and the artist no longer applies or feels justified. Sometimes you just can’t unring that bell, and while it’s unfortunate that a musical idol of mine decided to take such a shameful route, I don’t want to show any support for someone who has incited so much harm and negativity.
The decision to separate Ye’s music from his behavior and values is a personal judgment to make. At the very least, it should get you thinking about who celebrities really are as people, as some often misconstrue success for good morality. As for me, I think my days of putting classic Ye songs on repeat will have to take a provisional hiatus.