After ‘death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE’ tweet, Twitter, Instagram restrict Kanye West
Twitter says West’s profile locked due to violation of platform’s policies, after Instagram also takes action following antisemitic posts
Twitter said it has restricted the account of acclaimed US rapper Kanye West over a series of posts, criticized as antisemitic, where he appears to threaten “Jewish people.”
A spokeswoman for Twitter told AFP on Sunday that West’s account was locked due to a violation of the social media platform’s policies.
Instagram, owned by parent company Meta (previously Facebook), moved to restrict West’s account earlier Sunday.
A spokesperson for Instagram parent Meta told AFP the group had deleted content — without specifying which posts — from West’s account for violating its rules. The restriction may involve preventing him from posting, commenting, or sending private messages, according to the same source.
According to NBC, the Instagram restriction was also due to a post deemed to be antisemitic in which West shared a screenshot of a conversation with Sean “Diddy” Combs, and captioned it “Jesus is Jew.” The report said the message implied that Combs was under the control of Jews, an antisemitic trope.
West took to Twitter Sunday to write: “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,” in one of his first tweets in two years.
The post was later removed by Twitter for violating its rules.
I can't believe Kanye just said this "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE, It's so hilarious and funniest thing ever pic.twitter.com/G2tf1vbf2L
— Deadinside (@dfrommyheart) October 9, 2022
“Death con 3” appears to be a mistaken use of the US military heightened alert status DEFCON 3.
West had not posted on Twitter since the 2020 US elections, only returning once his Instagram account was restricted.
On Friday, the 45-year-old artist, who goes by Ye, had posted a number of screenshots on Instagram of an argument with hip-hop star Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy. The argument had erupted after West wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt at a Paris fashion show, and Combs had called him out on it.
The controversial slogan has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as a “white supremacist phrase.”
In one of the messages to Combs, West said: “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 captioned the Instagram post “Jesus is Jew.”
After the Instagram restriction, West posted against Meta’s Jewish founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“Look at this Mark,” West wrote, sharing a photo of the two of them together. “How you gone kick me off instagram.”
Look at this Mark
How you gone kick me off instagram
You used to be my nigga pic.twitter.com/YQzjw01jur
— ye (@kanyewest) October 8, 2022
West’s comments drew criticism from the American Jewish Committee.
“Kanye West has had a streak of rants this week that is remarkable even by his standards. Ye needs to see that words matter, especially a vicious antisemitic comment that recently surfaced on social media,” the organization said.
“If he wants to have any credibility as a commentator on social issues, let alone as a musician, maybe he can start by figuring out how to make a point without fomenting hatred of Jews,” the statement said.
On Thursday, West claimed that former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner brokered the Abraham Accords peace agreements between Israel and several Arab nations in order “to make money,” during an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
West claimed that Kushner and his brother Josh, who are both Jewish, were acting like a “handler” to former US president Donald Trump and claimed that “they love to just look at me or look at Trump like we’re so crazy and that they’re the businessman.”
“After talking to them, and really sitting with Jared and sitting with Josh… I was like, ‘Wow, these guys have really been holding [former US president Donald] Trump back and being very much a handler,’” West told Fox News as he reflected on his relationship with the Kushners.
No stranger to controversy, West, who has been open about his struggles with bipolar disorder, was previously banned from posting on Instagram for 24 hours in March, amid an acrimonious divorce from reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
Earlier this week, German sportswear giant Adidas said it was reconsidering its partnership with West after he reportedly became disgruntled with how the brand was marketing his products. Last month, West and retail brand Gap also announced an end to a partnership.
Separately, Kushner has come under scrutiny from Democrats over the investment fund he set up after leaving the White House, which accepted $2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Kushner and the crown prince forged a close relationship while Trump was in office.
Bin Salman is believed to have been more open to the Abraham Accords than other officials in the Saudi kingdom. Analysts say that Bahrain would not have agreed to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 along with the UAE without a green light from Riyadh.
