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One can undo the damage of their actions through making an honest attempt at repentance. How does Kanye’s apology measure up?
Kanye West, aka Ye, is one of the most iconic and influential artists of today, selling over 160 million records and winning 24 Grammy Awards. The only thing which rivals his success is ability to stir up controversy. Beyond his hijacking Taylor Swift’s album of the year award or making veiled death threats to comedian Pete Davidson, Kanye’s biggest controversy is his virulent antisemitism, expressed through his tweets, posts, and comments threatening Jews and praising Hitler.
Last week Kanye posted an apology, in Hebrew, to the Jewish community on his Instagram account.
The Jewish community isn’t a stranger to celebrities and influencers making antisemitic statements then trying to walk back those comments, presumably to stave off the consequences of cancel culture.
In those cases, the most successful apologies are accompanied by action. Judaism has the process of repentance, teshuvah, Hebrew for “return.” The process involves three steps: acknowledging the sinful act, regretting the action, and deciding to leave the sin once and for all.
These steps have been utilized by popular figures to show their sincerity. NBA player Meyers Leonard didn’t even realize an insult he uttered was a Jewish racial slur. He spent the next two years learning about Jewish communities and spent time at a local Florida Chabad (among many other steps.) Mel Gibson infamously slurred Jews during a drunken rant, and has since contributed to the Survivor Mitzvah Project, a Holocaust survivor aid program. TV host Nick Cannon took a journey of atonement for his comments denying the birthright of the Jewish people on his podcast in 2021. Cannon met with multiple rabbis in an attempt to understand and educate himself regardless of whether he would be forgiven or not.
These individuals tried, to varying degrees of success, to undo the damage of their actions through making an honest attempt at repentance.
How does Kanye’s apology measure up?
“I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions.” First off, there is nothing specific here. He’s not taking any responsibility for any action, which means he probably doesn’t understand what he did or how it has hurt the community.
“It was not my intention to hurt or disrespect, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused.” Again, he hasn’t shown he’s in touch with any pain or damage he’s done.
“I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future.” These commitments ring hollow. How is he going to learn? Is he going to visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum in Jerusalem? Is he going to attend some classes at Aish?
“Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.” The maxim, “actions speak louder than words,” seems to fit here. Needless to say, this halfhearted apology has met with a tepid response from the Jewish community, along with skepticism, if not anger. Not to mention that according to Scribbr’s AI detector, there’s an 85% chance the post was written with an AI program such as ChatGPT.
For any other celebrity, the reaction of “not good enough” would suffice and we could continue to remain highly skeptical of any work they do and steer clear of their influence where possible. But there’s a deeper problem with Kanye West.
Aside from some very insulting comments, like when he told Tucker Carlson “I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah from Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering,” Kanye has said dangerous and threatening thoughts publically and proudly. During an unaired portion of the Carlson interview Kanye perpetuated several conspiracy theories saying, “Planned Parenthood was made by Margaret Sanger, a known eugenics, with the KKK to control the Jew population. When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are.”
And of course, there is the most infamous Tweet on October 8th of 2022:
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Shortly after that, Kanye appeared on the highly controversial show Infowars with Alex Jones, where the artist appeared disturbingly fully masked and praised Hitler.
Shortly after the Jones interview, Kanye made a strange Instagram post. It seems that because of the comedic talents of Jewish actor Jonah Hill, hatred towards the Jews is wrong.
His abrupt change in attitude was bizarre. It is well known that Kanye West struggles with mental illness; his behavior outside his interactions with the Jewish community is a clear indicator of this. His erratic behavior adds an additional threatening element. At any moment, his newfound contrition may flip back insults, if not calls for violence. And for a man with more social media followers than there are Jews in the world, that is a very dangerous thing.
So what is the appropriate response to such a person seeking forgiveness? I think it’s best to ignore him, because there’s no way to know if his apology is authentic or even how he is going to act next. We are under no obligation to have a relationship with such a person.
There are some individuals we just can't reach, whether it is someone who has gone down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, or someone in the throes of psychotic break. Interacting with them is a losing battle. They will take your time and attention, while distorting your meaningful outreach. Don't engage.
It's a shame that Kanye has such influence, especially with the younger generation. We desperately want to set wrongs, call people out when they lie, and ultimately set the record straight. But in the case of people like Kanye West, not only is it a losing battle, forgiveness can be dangerous.
I also wonder about his choice to issue his "apology" in Hebrew. To be honest, I don't think he was reaching out to Jews. I think he may have been deliberately making it difficult for his followers to know he was apologizing at all?
I'm wondering if we're going to see a companion piece posted on the bogus apology of Harvard president, Claudine Gay? And if not, why not? Could it be, as she is 'woke,' she's untouchable, whereas Kanye isn't, so he's fair game?
An interesting take - from two different perspectives. One - the author - expresses some valid points about individuals - who actually turn their ignorance and hate for JEWS/ISRAEL around. Two - from the teachings of the religious leaders - we are supposed to LOOK - THINK - and SPEAK FAVORABLY about others. The author presents a lot of negative thoughts - about the subject of his article. If G-D apparently forgave Moses - for INTENTIONALLY KILLING an EGYPTIAN who was harming a JEW - and THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL in BAMIDBAR - for THEIR SINS. WE need to follow What G-D said to do - in His Written Torah & should be CAUTIOUS - about those who speak hate against us. But - if they TRULY are CONTRITE - and CHANGE - We should welcome them as CONVERTS ARE.
His "unintentional outburst" remarks. Baloney. He fully intended to say everything he said. And the article was being generous by calling him an "artist."
He "apologized" because one of his sponsors dropped him and he doesn't want to lose money.
An apology without change is simply manipulation
He likes Jewish people again? How can you like all people of any group? This is patronising. I can't say that I like Black people; there are millions of them and they are not clones.
If he didn't mean to be hurtful and disrespectful, he must be stupid. How could he not know that his comments were vile?
Forgive this ignoramus...and forget him.
Just look at him. Calling such a persona an "artist" is itself insulting.
Exactly my remark.
What Jewish person has ever 'wronged' him to the extent that he became an insufferable anti-semite?His 'hate' is illogical regardless of how it manifested.
antisemitism has nothing to do with logic.
As per usual from these people....nothing but a plagiarized document.
I'm sorry, but Kanye West has proven himself incapable of change. His apologies are empty, his behavior is erratic. His music promotes the worst in society. In my world he's a nobody. The author is correct, just ignore him.
The media demonizes him because he doesn't toe the 'woke' leftist line. There are a thousand leftist celebrities out there who never apologized in any form for their vehement anti-Israel tweets, comments, etc. who somehow never seem to make the media's radar. I'm not saying he's a saint, but let's not get swept up by the media's narrative. (Reality check to see how fair that narrative is - look at how they treat Hamas vs. Israel.)
i'm sure he's very contrite and regretful...about as contrite and regretful as the robber who gets caught and is very sorry he was caught.
My boyfriend is a former bank robber. He is genuinely contrite and regretful, although at the time he thought that the world owed him a living and found an easy way to get one. His family were all high achieving academics, but he wasn't silly enough to work for money when he could go into a bank with a gun. The 10 year sentence, of which he served 7 years, was a long, hard lesson. He also learned what he had put those people through (they couldn't know that the gun wasn't loaded) when someone walked into the place where he worked and thought it funny to say that this was a stick up, It was a petrol station and he was there at night...he nearly died of fright.
His life shows that he has changed his life and thinking!!!
Good for him! It is really hard for someone to deal with deep-seated attitudes and behaviors. Great that he turned his life around!
Kanye? All hot air. Where is the action that is different from before?
Change of attitude Bizzare? Nope his change of attitude is attributable because he knows he is losing beaucoup dollars from his outburst in the first place.
Unsure that I agree.
I suggest the various organisations you mention in your article can and should invite him to visit their offices to discuss the hurt etc. If he accepts and is prepared to learn and then repents, his apology should be accepted. If not continue to ignore him.
It is possible that rabbinic teaching might help his mental sickness, so even that makes it worthwhile.
Best to ignore and let them wallow in their misery. He suddenly wants to repent because his agent advised him to do so. He needs money and its clear that he has mental issues, one should just ignore. Never actualy heard of the guy until recent. Those characters dissapear faster than they come.
His remarks were disgusting & only illustrate his nasty personality. Evil be to him who evil thinks.
I appreciate your general writing very much, and i learn and benefit from it.
And I agree with most of your criticism and warnings about his apology
But please review what you wrote and think again. We do not disassociate
from people with a mental illness. We help them get treatment. We respect
them for whatever good choices they are able to make within their limitations.
When necessary, we do whatever it takes to keep them from hurting ourselves and others. or to hurt themselves. And above all we daven for them.
Since I am not a mental health professional, nor am I close enough to Kanye to have any influence on his actions, my choice is to ignore him and hope that someone near him has enough sense (and not just 'dollars and cents') to get him the help he obviously needs. But if the public keeps throwing money at him for his tirades, what are we to do?
Not even one spoiled word in the article. I think, though, is best to keep that guy far off any jewish people and/or jewish institute, lest he, disguised as a repented man, attempts to do a great harm.
At least he is making overtures and he had good reason to react the way he did after the ADL demonized him for sporting a WLM shirt in Paris. The ADL on the other hand had no basis to accusing Elon Musk of being antisemitic and causing him to lose billions of dollars. The only difference between Ye and EM is how they responded one wanted to fight and one wanted to sue.
Suing is another form of fighting. The difference is that when suing establishing facts is part of the process - which can backfire on the suer if the facts support the original claim.
Also it is physically bloodless, and any genocidal outbursts in court are likely to disprove the suit!