Kanye West, in Wall Street Journal Ad, Attributes Antisemitism and Erratic Behavior to Brain Damage

After years of inflammatory social-media posts and antisemitic invective, Kanye West has taken out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal that traces his erratic behavior to his 2002 car crash. West, who now goes by Ye, published the open letter, “To Those I’ve Hurt,” as he prepares to release a new album, Bully. He claims that various medical issues over the years—which share characteristics with bipolar 1 disorder and autism, he says—could be linked to right frontal lobe damage from the crash that inspired his breakout single “Through the Wire.” He also describes “disconnected moments” that have left him in a state akin to “an out-of-body experience,” adding, “It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.”

West blames his turn in mental health on a medical oversight after the crash. At the time, he writes, “the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed. Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023.”

The escalation of West’s outbursts of racial hatred began in 2022, when he posted, on the platform then called Twitter, that he wanted to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” (Adidas and Gap dropped their partnerships with Yeezy; the former company estimated the cost of the termination to be $246 million.) Soon after the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk later that year, West posted an image on X of a swastika inside the Star of David, leading to another temporary ban. Around the same time, he sold swastika T-shirts through a custom website and appeared on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars alongside the white supremacist, antisemite, and Holocaust denier Nicholas J. Fuentes. West praised Hitler and the Nazis, echoing rhetoric he has reportedly espoused in private for many years. His use of the swastika, he writes now, was a product of his “fractured state,” as he reached for “the most destructive symbol [he] could find.”

In February 2025, West returned to X and posted a series of comments that were homophobic, racist, misogynistic, and ableist, reiterating his pro-Nazi remarks. That May, he released “Heil Hitler” and the similarly themed “WW3,” songs that were removed by streaming services but widely shared on X. He writes now, “In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.”

In late 2024, two women sued West, one for sexual battery and the other for sexual assault, over alleged incidents earlier in his career. The woman who brought the former lawsuit, West’s former assistant Lauren Pisciotta, said he had drugged her at a party thrown by Sean “Diddy” Combs, whom West defended in his February 2025 posts. West denied her claims. In an updated filing, Pisciotta claimed last July that she had gone into hiding after a “swatting” campaign that she believes West initiated. West does not address allegations of sexual misconduct in his letter.

As part of what he describes as a “newfound, much-needed clarity,” he tries to make amends for his undermining of the Black Lives Matter movement—presumably with regard to provocations such as wearing a M.A.G.A. hat and “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and saying that slavery “sounds like a choice.” He writes, “To the black community—which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.”

West concludes, despite conflicting diagnoses, that bipolar disorder is the cause of his behavior. “I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places,” he writes. “Different people speaking about manic depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing ‘symptoms of autism.’”

He adds, “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.” Read the full ad, which is paid for by Yeezy and co-signed by company CFO Hussein Lalani, below.

Kanye West:

Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.

Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.

Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.

Once people label you as ‘crazy,’ you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by ten to fifteen years on average, and a 2x–3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type-1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer—all lethal and fatal if left untreated.

The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, and unstoppable.

I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to love someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.

In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold t-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall—that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.

To the black community—which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.

In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.

Having bipolar disorder is not a state of constant mental illness. When you go into the manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely ‘normal.’ And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.

I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism.”

My words as a leader in my community have real global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.

As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.

I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.