‘Lifelong friendships were tarnished by my horrible statements’: Kanye West elaborates on apology for antisemitism | Kanye West
Kanye West has detailed his mindset during manic episodes when he made strong antisemitic comments.
The rapper and fashion designer, legally known as Ye, has said on different occasions “There are a lot of things I like about Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi… I love Hitler”, accused Jews of “trying to denigrate anyone who opposes the agenda” and designed clothing with swastikas.
The comments were widely condemned and led to Ye being removed from a lucrative Adidas partnership and its talent agency. He has previously made statements targeting Black Americans, claiming “slavery was a choice” and putting the slogan “White Lives Matter” on a T-shirt.
On Monday, you took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal apologizing for comments contained in an open letter addressed to “those I have hurt,” saying the comments stemmed from bipolar-I disorder, which itself stemmed from brain injuries from a serious car accident.
“It blinds you but convinces you that you have insight. You feel strong, confident and unstoppable,” he wrote. “I lost touch with reality. The more I ignored the problem, the worse it got. I said and did things that I deeply regret… I regret and am deeply ashamed of my actions in this state, and I am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. However, that does not excuse my actions. I am not a Nazi or an anti-Semite. I love the Jewish people.”
Now, In an email interview with Vanity FairYe added more details. He said he made the apology not for commercial reasons — his new album, Bully , is expected to be released soon — but because “these feelings of regret are so heavy on my heart and soul. Once again, I owe a huge apology for everything I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities, especially. This has all gone too far. I look at the wreckage of my department and realize this is not who I am. As a public figure, a lot of people follow and listen to my every word. What matters is that they understand which side of history I want to be on, and that’s about love and positivity.”
When asked how he compensates for the people in his personal life, Ye replied: “Every day I wake up is a checklist of everything I said — at least what I can remember — when I was in a bipolar episode. All the family bonds, deep relationships, and lifelong friendships I worked so hard to build over many years were all tainted by all the terrible statements I impulsively said.”
He said a manic episode in 2025 lasted four months and a change in medication left him depressed, which led to an “effective and stable course correction” at a rehabilitation facility in Switzerland.
“Finding the dose is difficult, but finding the right balance with the disease is important and critical,” he said. “Otherwise zombification becomes a side effect of high dosage. Such side effects have been real for me from time to time… I’m just trying to find what works for me so I can continue on this positive path.”
In February 2025, Ye said that after consulting a doctor, he believed he was misdiagnosed as bipolar and that he was autistic instead, and told a podcast host that he had stopped taking medication for his bipolar disorder.
When Ye apologized to the Wall Street Journal, he said his autistic diagnosis was inaccurate. “I’m not the only one who has their entire life ruined once a year, even though they take medication every day and the best so-called doctors in the world tell me I’m not bipolar, I just have ‘symptoms of autism,’” he wrote.
