One day after Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and went on a bizarre antisemitic rant in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, President Joe Biden issued a forceful condemnation of his rhetoric.
“I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,” Biden wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.”
Vice President Kamala Harris too weighed in on Ye’s comments, writing on Twitter: “Praising Hitler and denying the Holocaust is vile, appalling, and must be condemned.”
“Our Administration will continue to stand up against antisemitism and the epidemic of hate,” Harris added. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president.
Hours earlier, Emhoff had shared to his Twitter followers that he felt “in pain right now” amid the antisemitic rhetoric.
“Perpetuating lies, such as the denial of the Holocaust, and praising fascist murderers, is dangerous and fans the flames of antisemitism and hate,” Emhoff wrote. “We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts. We must not stay silent.”
Ye’s comments are the latest in a series of targeted attacks the rapper has lobbed against the Jewish community. His rhetoric Thursday went so far as to appear to make Jones uncomfortable, who occasionally pushed back against his guest’s claims during the Infowars show.
Still, Jones – who on Friday filed for personal bankruptcy after being ordered to pay millions to families of victims killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting for defamation – allowed Ye to expouse antisemitic conspiracy theories and praise the former leader of Nazi Germany nearly unchecked during the podcast, which also featured white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
As Ye has turned to darker, more overt antisemetic tropes in recent weeks, President Biden is far from the only public figure pushing back against the artist’s comments.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., slammed Ye’s words as blatant Nazism, adding: “When are we going to say ENOUGH?”
Torres later tweeted that he was “shocked beyond words” by the comments and encouraged readers to follow the Auschwitz Museum on Twitter.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote that Ye’s actions in recent weeks have made clear that “Ye is a vicious antisemite.”
“His comments today on InfoWars are not just vile and offensive: they put Jews in danger,” Greenblatt added.
The American Jewish Committee similarly asked Americans to stand with the Jewish community and against individuals like Ye, Fuentes and Jones, saying “it's incumbent on all people of goodwill to forcefully condemn this vile hatred.”
Reaction came from outside the country as well, when Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, criticized Jones’ decision to spread both Ye and Fuentes’ messages, writing in part: “At a time when antisemitism is on the rise, it is alarming that such vile rhetoric is given a platform and legitimized.”
“They engaged in hateful incitement, which could lead to violence and the death of Jews in horrifying incidents. Free speech does not extend to incitement of violence and demonization of the Jewish community, which faces the highest levels of religious-based violence in the U.S.,” Herzog continued. “We must all stand against the continuing threat of antisemitism. No society can have room for such hateful ideas, no matter who expresses them.”
Ye has received mounting backlash from the public after a series of antisemitic comments he made even before his appearance on Infowars. Last week, Ye and Fuentes met with former President Donald Trump at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate to discuss a potential joint 2024 election bid, with Trump as the vice presidential candidate, Ye said in an interview.
Fuentes’ presence at the meeting, which Trump claimed he did not know about in advance, was quickly condemned by the Democratic National Committee. Fuentes is a far-right activist who denies the Holocaust ever happened, and who attended the 2017 white supremacist United the Right rally in Charlottesville.
A number of companies have publicly terminated their contracts with the rapper in recent weeks – and on Friday, Ye’s Twitter account was suspended after he posted a photo of a swastika combined with a Star of David.
"I tried my best,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk wrote of the decision to suspend Ye. “Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”
While some claimed Musk should have taken action sooner, the move was also praised by members of both political parties for de-platforming antisemitism.
“Posting a swastika and a Star of David is not art or creativity, it is hateful intimidation and intentional incitement,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote in part. “Our nation should immediately call it what it really is.”
The Republican party also deleted a previous tweet referencing Ye following his interview with Jones on Thursday. The GOP House Judiciary committee on Oct. 6 shared a tweet that simply read: "Kanye. Elon. Trump.” By Thursday afternoon, the tweet was scrubbed from the account.
In a subsequent interview with NBC News, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is vying to be Speaker of the House come next Congress, called Ye’s remarks "disgusting" and "unbelievable.”
“He must have a mental issue,” McCarthy told the outlet. “No one can believe what he said.”
Other Republican heavy hitters, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had previously condemned Ye’s rhetoric and his meeting alongside Fuentes.
"There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy," McConnell said earlier this week. "And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States."
Notably silent on Ye’s most recent antisemitic rant is the artist’s former wife, Kim Kardashian. The 42-year-old, who shares four children with Ye, previously wrote on Twitter: “Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end."