Kanye West has been declared the worst antisemite of the year
Los Angeles, California - Kanye West's constant hate-filled rhetoric about Jews has landed him at the top of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's annual global antisemitism top 10 list.
Ye is not only in first place for spewing antisemitic remarks and conspiracy theories, but for "leveraging his immense social media platform to weaponize hate, bigotry, and ignorance," the Jewish rights group said on Thursday.
It added that the rapper contributed to hatred of Jews becoming part of the mainstream discourse on social media.
Kanye's antisemitic spiral started in October and went from peddling bigoted theories about Jews controlling the media industry to full-blown support for Nazis and Adolf Hitler. His tirades got him banned from Instagram temporarily and from Twitter permanently, as even "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk drew the line at tweeting a swastika.
His scandalous behavior even became a topic of discussion at the White House, with first gentleman Doug Emhoff hosting a roundtable on how to tackle rising antisemitism.
"We cannot normalize this," Emhoff said at the time. "We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts. We must not stay silent. There is no either/or. There are no two sides. Everyone must be against this."
Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the Wiesenthal Center has become known for its worldwide search for Nazi criminals in hiding. It's stated aims are also to promote tolerance and fight racism, anti-Semitism, terrorism, and genocide around the world.
Cover photo: BRAD BARKET / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP