https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/21/kanye-wests-anti-semitic-controversial-behavior-heres-everything-hes-said-in-recent-weeks
Kanye West’s Anti-Semitic, Controversial Behavior—Here’s Everything He’s
Said In Recent Weeks
Marisa DellattoForbes Staff
I cover breaking news, arts and entertainment.
Oct 21, 2022,01:44pm EDT
Updated Oct 21, 2022, 04:16pm EDT
Topline
Beginning in early October, Kanye West—also known as “Ye”—went on a
spree of public appearances and interviews in which he spouted
anti-Semitic comments and conspiracy theories, criticized Black Lives
Matter, ended business relationships and was blocked on social media
platforms, leading to widespread criticism and disavowal by industry
peers—here’s everything he’s said, and what he does—and doesn’t—regret.
Kanye West is seen leaving his hotel on March 3, 2022 in Miami, Florida.
Kanye West is seen leaving his hotel on March 3, 2022, in Miami.GC Images
Timeline
October 3West, Candace Owens and at least one model wear shirts with
“White Lives Matter” written on them at West’s Yeezy fashion show in
Paris; The Southern Poverty Law Center says the term is associated with
a Neo-Nazi group with that same name that was founded as “a racist
response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter” and describes
itself as “dedicated to promotion of the white race and taking positive
action as a united voice against issues facing our race.”
October 4After criticizing LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault at West’s fashion
show, the rapper baselessly claims on Instagram that Arnault “KILLED MY
BEST FRIEND,” seemingly alluding to designer Virgil Abloh, who died of
cancer last year, and later claims LVMH’s elitism and racism affected
Abloh’s health; West is criticized by streetwear brand Supreme’s
creative director Tremaine Emory for using Abloh’s death for his own
advantage.
October 6After West publicly complained about his contract with Adidas
to make Yeezy products, Adidas says it is putting its longstanding
relationship with West under review, and in response West writes on
Instagram, “FUUUUUUCK ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS ADIDAS RAPED AND STOLE MY DESIGNS.”
October 6In an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, West wears an
ultrasound photo around his neck to demonstrate his pro-life views, and
baselessly claims, “There’s more Black babies being aborted than born in
New York City at this point. Fifty percent of Black death in America is
abortion,” and then brings up singer Lizzo when saying being overweight
is “genocide of the Black race.”
October 7West is restricted on Instagram for violating the app’s
policies after he posts a screenshot of a text conversation he had with
Sean “Diddy” Combs in which he said he was going to use Combs “as an
example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one
can threaten or influence me”—which the American Jewish Committee says
invokes “tropes like greed and control” about Jewish people.
October 9On Twitter, West claims he is going to go “death con 3 on
Jewish people,” an apparent misspelling of “defcon,” and says it was not
anti-Semitic for him to say so because “black people are actually Jew
also”—his account is promptly locked by the social media platform.
October 10While his accounts elsewhere are blocked, West posts a
documentary to YouTube, which contains footage of him displaying a porn
movie to Adidas executives.
October 11Vice’s Motherboard leaks footage from West’s interview with
Carlson that was edited out of the broadcast, including him saying the
term “Jew” refers to the “the 12 lost tribes of Judah . . . who the
people known as the race Black really are”—a belief the Anti-Defamation
League says stems from the Black Hebrew Isrealite movement; he also
falsely says Planned Parenthood was founded to “control the Jew
population.” (Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger did believe in
eugenics and the racist and ableist idea of selective breeding, which
the organization now denounces.)
October 12Talk show The Shop says it would not air an interview with
West because he used the platform to “reiterate more hate speech and
extremely dangerous stereotypes.”
October 15In a since-deleted episode of Drink Champs, West falsely
claims that George Floyd died because of fentanyl, and not because
former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes; Floyd’s
family subsequently says it plans to sue West for the remarks.
October 17Conservative social media platform Parler announces West is
buying it, and West says, “In a world where conservative opinions are
considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to
freely express ourselves.”
October 17In an interview with Chris Cuomo, West talks about the “Jewish
underground media mafia” and says his “death con 3” remarks referred to
when “Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish
record labels take ownership,” a form of “modern day slavery;” the ADL
says his remarks use “age-old anti-Semitic myths about Jewish greed and
power and control of the entertainment industry.”
October 19On Piers Morgan Uncensored, after saying he did not regret his
anti-Semitic remarks, West apologizes to “the people that I hurt with
the ‘death con’” comment and to “the families of the people that had
nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through.”
October 19West tells Piers Morgan that President Joe Biden is “f**king
r**arded” for not taking advice from Elon Musk, and said he can use the
term because he has “mental health issues.”
Kanye’s Mental Health
West has been open about his diagnosis with bipolar disorder, going so
far as to call it a “superpower.” He’s spoken out about his complicated
relationship with taking medicine for the condition. In 2018, he told
the New York Times he was “learning how to not be on meds,” and later
that year said he had not taken any for six months. “I can feel me
again,” he tweeted. His ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, said in 2019 that
“being on medication is not really an option, because it just changes
who he is.” The following year, she pleaded for compassion for her
then-spouse, writing on Instagram “He is a brilliant but complicated
person who on top of the pressures of being an artist and a black man,
who experienced the painful loss of his mother, and has to deal with the
pressure and isolation that is heightened by his” mental illness. This
winter, West criticized an Instagram user who suggested he was not
taking his medication, saying it’s “DISMISSIVE TO SAY IM OFF MY MEDS
ANYTIME I SPEAK UP.”
Kanye’s Connection To The Conservatives
In the last few years, West has become increasingly closer to
conservative politicians. He previously embraced former President Donald
Trump, visiting him at the White House and wearing his trademark “Make
America Great Again” hats. In 2020, West ran for president as a
candidate of the “birthday party,” but it was later revealed his
campaign was run by those with deep connections to the Republican Party.
Lately, West has been closely tied to Owens. In addition to attending
his fashion show in the “White Lives Matter” shirt, West attended the
premiere of her documentary The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and
the Rise of BLM. It was after watching the film that West made the
incorrect claim about Floyd’s death. Parler’s CEO is George
Farmer—Owens’ husband.
Kanye’s Net Worth
Forbes estimates West is worth $2 billion, with much of that coming from
his long-term deal with Adidas. After West debuted the “White Lives
Matter” shirts, Adidas said it was putting its relationship with him
under review. If West were to lose the Adidas deal, Forbes reported he
could lose his billionaire status. Luxury fashion house Balenciaga said
Friday it “has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future
projects related to this artist.”
Further Reading
The House Of Ye: Chaos, Antisemitism, ‘White Lives Matter’ — And Steady,
Unbothered Sales (Forbes)
Anti-Defamation League Calls On Adidas To Drop Kanye West After
Anti-Semitic Remarks (Forbes)
George Floyd’s Family Will Sue Kanye West For $250 Million Over False
Comments About Death (Forbes)
The Fate Of Kanye West’s Career Is In His Fans’ Hands, PR Professionals
Say (Forbes)
Kanye West Is Buying Right-Wing Social Media Platform Parler (Forbes)
Marisa Dellatto
I'm a breaking news reporter focusing on arts and entertainment. I
previously worked as a features reporter at the New York...
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Retail
Patrick Byrne Of Overstock Fame Says He Was Involved In Months long
Effort To Overturn 2020 Election
Lauren DebterForbes Staff
I cover the retail industry.
Jul 14, 2022,04:01pm EDT
Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC
Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne speaks at a press conference across
the street from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando,
Florida, in February 2022.The Washington Post via Getty Images
When it comes to peculiar characters, 2020 election edition, few people
had this guy on their bingo card: the former chief executive of online
furniture retailer Overstock, Patrick Byrne.
Byrne, set to speak with the January 6 committee on Friday, was present
at a contentious White House meeting days before Christmas in 2020 with
then President Donald Trump and members of his staff, in which Byrne,
former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Trump lawyer Sidney
Powell made the case that the election had been stolen and they needed
to recount ballots in at least six states. They also discussed deploying
the National Guard to seize voting machines.
Days before that meeting, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice
Department had found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have
affected the outcome of the election.
On December 18, 2020, the group showed up at the White House undaunted.
They didn’t have an appointment, but gained access thanks to a junior
staffer and ultimately walked straight into the Oval Office, where they
had a private audience with Trump. They had a short period of time alone
with him, during which they presented their case. Before long, they were
interrupted by several White House officials, including then counsel Pat
Cipollone.
“I bet Pat Cipollone set a new land speed record,” Powell said in
testimony to the January 6 committee about how fast he showed up.
Cipollone was not happy with the group he found. “The Overstock person,
I’ve never met, I never knew who this guy was,” said Cipollone in his
testimony. “Actually, the first thing I did, I walked in, I looked at
him, and I said, ‘Who are you?’”
It turns out that Byrne had been actively involved for months in efforts
to uncover fraud and prove that the election had been stolen, according
to a book he self-published called The Deep Rig, as well as lengthy blog
posts on his site DeepCapture.com and an hour-long video. (A
self-proclaimed libertarian, Byrne says he did not vote for Trump.)
Byrne, 59, has a long history of hawking conspiracy theories and
becoming embroiled in controversy. The son of an insurance tycoon who
turned around Geico in the 1970s and attracted an investment from Warren
Buffett, he earned a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford while
battling three bouts of testicular cancer and wrote his dissertation
exploring the virtues of limited government. He and his brother then
began doing deals financed by their dad, buying up bankrupt hotels,
strip malls, apartment buildings and distressed consumer debt.
In 1999, he bought a discount retailer, renamed it Overstock and began
scooping up inventory from bankrupt dot-coms and selling it at discounts
online. Three years later, the company’s revenue hit $92 million and he
took it public. When the stock tanked, Byrne blamed it on an illegal
practice called naked short-selling. He embarked on a yearslong crusade,
ranting in one call with investors that hedge funds, journalists and
regulators were conspiring to push down the company’s stock price under
the direction of some faceless menace he called the “Sith Lord.”
Byrne later became enamored with blockchain technology, spending
hundreds of millions of Overstock’s money to start or invest in more
than a dozen blockchain companies. In 2019, he resigned from Overstock
after his romantic relationship with accused Russian spy Maria Butina
came to light. Byrne says he was a federal informant in her
investigation and had been feeding information to the “Men In Black”
since 2015. He then sold his entire stake in Overstock, worth about $90
million before taxes, citing a fear of retaliation from the government,
which he referred to as the “Deep State.”
In the summer of 2020, Byrne was recovering from spinal surgery when he
says a friend paid him a visit at his home in Utah and piqued his
interest in election fraud. He told him he should get involved with a
group that was looking into suspicious activity in the 2018 Dallas
election and believed there was potential for election fraud on a much
wider scale, according to Byrne’s book.
Byrne threw himself into the subject. He says he spent the next several
months speaking with cybersecurity experts and hackers, learning about
the ways in which electronic voting machines could be vulnerable to foul
play and foreign interference.
By the time election night came, Byrne was on the lookout for signs of
fraud. He says he approached Sidney Powell in mid-November with
information on election fraud. He then relayed that information to
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani at her direction, he says.
Days later, Giuliani spoke at a press conference during which rivulets
of hair dye ran down his face as he made allegations of widespread voter
fraud. When Powell stepped to the microphone, she blamed communists in
Cuba and Venezuela, left-wing billionaire George Soros and the Clinton
Foundation for a plot to ensure that Trump did not win the presidency.
(The White House distanced itself from her after that.)
All the while, Byrne says he continued to spend time in D.C. and
remained in communication with Powell, who introduced him to Flynn. In
December, Byrne says the trio decided to “crash” the White House to try
and get their message to Trump. Aides said the meeting became “unhinged”
with shouting and insults being hurled between the conspiracy theorists
and the White House legal team. The confab lasted until after midnight,
ultimately ending in the president’s living quarters, known as the
“Yellow Oval,” where Byrne says Swedish meatballs were served and he was
“scarfing them down like popcorn.”
Hours after their meeting, Trump called on protesters to join him in the
nation’s capital, tweeting: “Statistically impossible to have lost the
2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
Byrne says he continued to try and get in front of Trump again, even
flying down to Mar-A-Lago over the holidays, but he was turned away by
security after showing up in a beat-up Toyota Corolla Uber ride and yoga
togs.
MORE FROM FORBESThe Exclusive Inside Story Of The Fall Of Overstock's
Mad King, Patrick Byrne
By Lauren Debter
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Lauren Debter
Lauren Debter
I am a staff writer at Forbes covering retail. I have been at Forbes
since 2013, first on the markets and investing team and then on the
billionaires team. In the...
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