Ye (formerly Kanye West) continues to be in hot water after attempting to release his highly controversial song “Heil Hitler.” After being yanked down by streaming services and DSPs on Thursday (May 8), CEO of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Jim Berk, shared a statement to Billboard, voicing his dismay and disappointment in the mercurial MC.
“Kanye West’s release of a song entitled ‘Heil Hitler’ on VE Day, the anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi regime, is hate speech, pure and simple—totally in line with the despicable messages we now expect from West,” said Berk.
Berk’s frustration didn’t stop there, as he directed his attention to Elon Musk’s social media platform X, for enabling such vitriol to be spewed by Ye and others.
“But his partner in spreading dangerous vitriol against Jews is X, which is allowing flagrant violation of its own rules reading, ‘You may not directly attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.’”
He continued: “We call on X to remove West from its platform and for other platforms and distributors to refuse to host or monetize this song. There must be a clear line when it comes to glorification of genocidal regimes, particularly to millions of young people.”
After experiencing failed attempts on DSPs, West uploaded the song to SoundCloud, where it was later pulled down as well. This prompted Ye to share his thoughts on X.
“Heil Hitler by Ye has been banned by all digital streaming platforms,” Ye wrote. “While Rednecks by Randy Newman remains streamable They’re literally keeping the n—-s down.” Previously teased by Ye, “Heil Hitler” had terse subject matter ranging from the rapper’s nitrous usage to custody issues over his four children with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Billboard reached out to Ye’s camp for comment.
