You can always count on radio host Howard Stern to tell speak his mind on a subject and rapper and designer Ye's spate of open antisemitism is no exception.
In a recent episode of The Howard Stern Show, the host laid into Ye over several appalling tweets and public statements which included nods to conspiracy theories and threats of violence. They preceded an escalation of openly antisemitic rhetoric from the right-wing this week.
In his comments, Stern, who is Jewish, compared Ye's statement to the rhetoric of Adolph Hitler and lambasted the notion Ye's mental illness is an excuse for his behavior.
Hear some of Stern's comments below.
WARNING: NSFW language
\u201c\u201cF*ck this mental illness self defense.\u201d Howard Stern is fed up with Kanye West\u2019s anti-Semitic rants, and isn\u2019t buying the \u201cmental health issues\u201d excuse anymore. (Via Mediaite and SiriusXM)\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
Stern's comments were in reference to social media posts from Ye two weeks ago in which he threatened to "[go] death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE" and propagated a long-standing conspiracy theory claiming Black people are the actual Jews spoken of in the Bible.
Days later, deleted clips from a sit-down with far-right Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson were leaked to Vice News and showed Ye elaborating even further on these antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Many fans of Ye and some media voices repeatedly defended or attributed his behavior on his diagnosis with bipolar disorder. Mental health and disability advocates and activists called out the ableism of blaming and stereotyping mental illness as the cause of bigotry.
But this defense holds no water for Stern, who ranted:
"Good lord, you gotta hear the sh*t this guy's into."
"And f*ck this mental illness, self-defense thing … 'Oh yeah, he's just mentally ill, don't worry about it.'"
Stern went on to reference Ye's appearance this week on journalist Chris Cuomo's show on NewsNation, in which he ranted about a "Jewish underground media mafia" trying to silence him after his recent "White Lives Matter" t-shirt scandal.
He also complained this supposed cabal will only refer to him as "rapper" rather than "visionary" or "billionaire."
Stern responded:
"Guess what, douchebag..."
"If a newspaper article doesn't point out the fact that you're some sort of designer or genius, maybe that's not because he's Jewish, but maybe because he just doesn't put that much thought into who the f*ck you are and what your business is."
Stern went on to call Ye's antics "depressing," saying:
"[Ye] used to be fun crazy, now he's like Hitler."
On Twitter, many applauded Stern's take on the matter, especially his rejection of Ye's mental health issues as a defense.
\u201c@MikeSington @NotHoodlum i don\u2019t buy it either. It\u2019s an excuse.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
\u201c@MikeSington For me it's never been an excuse, simply an explanation.\n\nAnd it never should have been tolerated for this long. \n\nThe people that love him need to sit down with him and intervene.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
\u201c@Variety I agree with Howard for once\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1666213939
\u201c@MikeSington Like Walker, West's mental health & acuity are certainly factors in others' ability to use him for their purposes \u2014 talk him into doing things. His antisemitic comment followed directly on Trump's, IMO a concerted effort to draw Dems' attention away from focusing on the election.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
\u201c@MikeSington As usual, Howard is \ud83d\udcaf correct.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
\u201cHoward Stern says Kanye West is \u201cLike Hitler\u201d and his mental state is no excuse for antiemetic comments. Damn straight!\u201d— Outspoken\u2122\ufe0f (@Outspoken\u2122\ufe0f) 1666285778
\u201cYes, Howard Stern has a history of being problematic. No one is saying he\u2019s perfect but you know what else is problematic? Kanye West talking about murdering Jews.\u201d— Meredith Lee (@Meredith Lee) 1666274976
\u201cmental illness does not make you anti-Semitic. I have zero sympathy for Kanye\u201d— Tracey Taylor London \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Tracey Taylor London \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1666289310
\u201c@MikeSington @randmoliva Using mental health as a defense for this kind of behavior only increases the stigma associated with mental illness. This is hate, pure and simple.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1666197127
Despite the tidal wave of backlash, Ye has not backed down on his antisemitic of anti-Black rhetoric.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan's show Uncensored this week, Ye said he was sorry for the people he hurt, but when asked if he regrets the comments he told Morgan, "Absolutely not," saying he was aware the comments were racist and antisemitic and he was simply "fighting fire with fire."
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