Kanye 'Ye' West had one of his tweets taken down by the social media platform on the same day that Meta confirmed his Instagram account had been restricted for violating the platform’s policies.
The tweet, posted on Saturday night, was up for about an hour. In it, the 45-year-old rapper and fashion mogul, who now goes by the name of “Ye”, wrote that he was going to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” went the rambling post by the rapper, as appears from screenshots of the since-deleted tweet.
In its place, there is now a notice from Twitter that reads, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.”
The 45-year-old rapper and fashion mogul had returned to Twitter after nearly a two-year hiatus on 7 October to call out Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for placing his Instagram account on hold.
The account was restricted after Kanye West posted a screenshot of a message he purportedly sent to rapper powerhouse Sean Love Combs, also known by his stage names Puff Daddy or P. Diddy. After seeing the screenshots, users criticized West for employing language that seemed anti-Semitic.
"Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me," West wrote in the exchange, shared under the post captioned "Jesus is Jew." That post has also since been deleted.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) advocacy group, immediately posted a video on Instagram which accused Ye of using "antisemitic tropes like greed and control". According to the AJC, Ye's post insinuated that Combs is "controlled" by Jews.
"Kanye West should figure out how to make a point without using antisemitism," the AJC said.
The troubles with Twitter and Instagram come after the billionaire musician had a meltdown on social media in the wake of a controversial show during Paris fashion week. A catwalk event by Kanye West at the show included a T-shirt with the slogan 'White Lives Matter'.
The Anti-Defamation League denounced the phrase White Lives Matter, which reframes the Black Lives Matter phrase, as a hate statement.
After Vogue fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson criticized the Yeezy show and declared the 'White Lives Matter' shirt "dangerous" and "irresponsible", the affronted performer ripped into her on social media.
Kanye West attempted to explain the motives behind the controversial shirt as he appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on 6 October, saying:
"So, the answer to why I wrote ‘white lives matter’ on a shirt is because they do… It's the obvious thing."
*Meta (Facebook, Instagram) is banned in Russia as an extremist organization.