Ye, the singer, songwriter and producer formally known as Kanye West, went on a viral string of outbursts this past year, where a seemingly unending stream of hateful comments and ideas were expressed. Some of the most damaging of these included his anti-semitic comments on Alex Jones’ Infowars podcast, where he defended the actions of Adolf Hitler, claiming that the dictator was a “genius” and that the Holocaust was fabricated by the government. Among other comments said on social media, Ye’s comments have highlighted a huge issue in both his and many other celebrities’ fan bases: blind, devoted fanboy-ism.
In the fallout of these viral outbursts, many came out and denounced Ye’s hate speech, including Joe Biden, who tweeted out against the comments; “I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure”.
On social media platforms like Twitter (Now X, though it was Twitter at the time), many of Ye’s fans spoke out and stated how they were truly hurt by the comments; however, another group of unwavering defenders appeared as well. The statement “but he made Graduation” (which is one of Ye’s popular albums), became a popular statement to defend Ye.
While a lot of those who said it are joking about defending the rapper, there were and are still some that truly stand by Ye; many of whom being teenagers. Some have said that the outbursts were a result of Ye’s rough mental state. While this may be an explanation, it certainly is not a justification.
For me, being a fan of Ye’s music and also being Jewish, I found myself just confused. It was baffling to me how someone could conceive of ideas such as these. Others expressed similar views recently. In an article titled “Anti Semitism is on the rise, and it’s not just about Ye” published by NPR, examples are given of how anti-semitism has increased in past years; “The current streak includes the 2018 attack on the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue – where a gunman killed 11 Jewish worshippers, as well as the deadly ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Va. two years earlier where extremist demonstrators chanted ‘Jews will not replace us’ during a torchlit march”. Clearly, there is a brewing hatred that Ye’s comments only heightened.
Because of these past events and many others as well, I believe there is an issue with the idolization of celebrities in today’s world; specifically with teenagers and younger people in general.
