By Associated Press
Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts have been locked because of antisemitic posts from the rapper, now known legally as Ye.
Spokespersons for Twitter and Instagram parent company Meta said Sunday that Ye posted messages that violated their policies.
In a tweet sent late Saturday, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records, making an apparent reference to the U.S. military readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.
“You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he said in the same tweet, which was removed by Twitter.
The comment drew a sharp rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which called the tweet “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period.”
“There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,” a statement said.
Representatives for Ye did not return requests for comment.
Earlier this month, Ye had been criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collection at Paris Fashion Week.
Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs posted a video on Instagram saying he didn’t support the shirt, and urged people not to buy it.
On Instagram, Ye posted a screenshot of a text conversation with Diddy and suggested he was controlled by Jewish people, according to media reports.
The two social networks’ policies prohibit posting offensive language. Ye’s Twitter account is still active but he can’t post until the suspension — of an unspecified duration — ends.
Meta, which owns Facebook as well as Instagram, at times will place restrictions on accounts that it deems repeatedly in violation of its rules. The sanctions may include temporary restrictions on posting, commenting or sending direct messages.
Ye had returned to Twitter on Saturday following a nearly two-year hiatus, reportedly after Instagram locked his account.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend,” responded Elon Musk, who last week renewed his $44 billion offer to buy Twitter following a monthslong legal battle with the company.
The billionaire and Tesla CEO has said he would remake Twitter into a free speech haven and relax restrictions, although it’s impossible to know precisely how he would run the influential network if he were to take over.
Ye has often earned a reputation less for his music and more for stirring up controversy since 2016, when he was hospitalized in Los Angeles because of what his team called stress and exhaustion. It was later revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
That year, he ended a show in Sacramento, California, after just four songs but not before a 10-minute tirade about Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, the radio and MTV. West soon decided to scrap the entire tour.
Since then he has regularly made headlines: Running for president, continuing his running feud with Taylor Swift, causing an uproar when he suggested slavery was a choice, threatening his former wife Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Pete Davidson, publicly defending R. Kelly and once inviting Marilyn Manson and DaBaby on stage with him as they faced sexual assault and anti-gay allegations, respectively. He also said he was suspicious of any COVID-19 vaccine, calling it “the mark of the beast.”
