Kanye West has said his recent apology for his past antisemitic comments was not about his forthcoming upcoming album or an attempt to “revive” his career.
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It comes after the rapper, now known as ‘Ye’, shared a lengthy message in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. He addressed his apology to “those I’ve hurt”, before explaining his erratic and controversial behaviour in recent years.
He also apologised for his past antisemitic comments and said that he “lost touch with reality”. The rapper shared details of his bipolar type-1 diagnosis, as well as a “four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed [his] life”.
With his new album ‘Bully’ set to drop on Friday (January 30), he was asked whether the message was a publicity stunt in a new interview with Vanity Fair.
Kanye West apologizes for antisemitism in new letter published through The Wall Street Journal:
“I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people” pic.twitter.com/gZ1E7YyJPa
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 26, 2026
West denied this pointing to his ongoing success musically. “It’s my understanding that I was in the top 10 most listened-to artists overall in the U.S. on Spotify in 2025, and last week and most days as well,” West said.
“My upcoming album, ‘Bully’, is currently one of the most anticipated pre-saves of any album on Spotify, too. My 2007 album, ‘Graduation’, was also the most listened-to and streamed hip-hop album of 2025. This, for me, as evidenced by the latter, isn’t about reviving my commerciality.”
He argued that he was trying to come clean with his message.
“This is because these remorseful feelings were so heavy on my heart and weighing on my spirit,” West said. “I owe a huge apology once again for everything that I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities in particular. All of it went too far.
“I look at wreckage of my episode and realise that this isn’t who I am. As a public figure, so many people follow and listen to my every word. It’s important that they realise and understand what side of history that I want to stand on. And that is one of love and positivity.”
Following his lengthy message in the Wall Street Journal, the Anti-Defamation League – an organisation dedicated to combating all forms of antisemitism, weighed in on his comments, and said that while the apology is “long overdue”, it didn’t mean people could automatically move on from the hurt caused.
“[It] doesn’t automatically undo his long history of antisemitism,” a spokesperson told Billboard, also citing West’s “antisemitic ‘Heil Hitler’ song, the hundreds of tweets, the swastikas and myriad Holocaust references – and all of the feelings of hurt and betrayal it caused.”
“The truest apology would be for him to not engage in antisemitic behaviour in the future,” they continued. “We wish him well on the road to recovery.”
Disturbed frontman David Draiman also reiterated that while the comments were welcomed, there needed to be concrete change seen going forward too.
Last year, West shared a string of highly controversial posts, took back his past apology to the Jewish community for his previous antisemitic remarks, and declared himself “a Nazi”.
He later said on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”. But then just days later dropped more swastika apparel on his X page.
The apology in the Wall Street Journal comes after West held a meeting with a rabbi last November and apologised for his antisemitic comments. He had earlier apologised to Jay-Z, seemingly relating to vulgar and insulting remarks about his and Beyoncé’s children.
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