Kanye West has claimed that he’s been planning to release his ill-received swastika t-shirt for “over eight years”.
In a new rant on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday night (February 17), the controversial rapper once again took aim at the Jewish community. In one of his first posts of the night, Kanye – legally known as Ye – poked fun at his swastika t-shirt being pulled from his website: “No one seems to wanna produce me wittle t shirt”.
The post comes after Ye earlier this month began selling only a white T-shirt with a large swastika on the chest, listed as “HH-01” on his website – possibly a reference to the “Heil Hitler” chant before Shopify then went on to shut down West’s Yeezy website.
No one seems to wanna produce me wittle t shirt
— ye (@kanyewest) February 17, 2025
He then claimed that he has had the idea for the controversial t-shirt “for over eight years” and that “it was so intriguing to me that a symbol had so much programming in it”. He added: “I remember going to Japan and hasping when I saw that is known as the Swastika on clothing. It felt illegal to even look at it. That’s how I had been programmed. I then found out that swastika had many different meanings and many different names.”
IVE HAD MY SWASTIKA T SHIRT IDEA FOR OVER 8 YEARS IT WAS SO INTRIGUING TO ME THAT A SYMBOL HAD SO MUCH PROGRAMING IN IT
— ye (@kanyewest) February 18, 2025
I REMEMBER GOING TO JAPAN AND GASPING WHEN I SAW WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE SWASTIKA ON CLOTHING IT FELT ILLEGAL TO EVEN LOOK AT IT THATS HOW I HAD BEEN PROGRAMMED I THEN FOUND OUT THAT SWASTIKA HAD MANY DIFFERENT MEANINGS AND MANY DIFFERENT NAMES
— ye (@kanyewest) February 18, 2025
Kanye’s Monday night tirade also say that his last “rampage” was “90 per cent Jew proof” before going on to hint at his infamous anti-Semitic tirade a couple of years back that among many other outlandish claims, saw him tell the Jewish community that they needed to “forgive Hitler” for the holocaust.
MY LAST TWITTER RAMPAGE WAS 90% JEW PROOF
— ye (@kanyewest) February 17, 2025
WELL 2 YEARS AGO I TWEETED DEATHCON 3 ON THE JEWS IM SURE NO ONE REMEMBERS THAT
— ye (@kanyewest) February 17, 2025
AND A FEW SPECIFIC JEWS NOT THE ENTIRE RACE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BUT A FEW SPECIFIC JEWS CAME TOGETHER AND DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO DESTROY ME NOT PLAYING VICTIM JUST REFRESHING EVERYONES MEMORY
— ye (@kanyewest) February 17, 2025
He also referenced his recent social media rant from earlier this month: “This time I pushed every cancelable idea possible”.
THIS TIME I PUSHED EVERY CANCELABLE IDEA POSSIBLE I PUSHED EVEY BOTTON I COULD
— ye (@kanyewest) February 17, 2025
The “rampage” Kanye is referring to is his subsequent post-Grammys tweets, which saw him rescind his apology to the Jewish community for his past anti-Semitic remarks, and go on to declare himself as “a Nazi” and write: “I love Hitler”, as well as praise billionaire and X owner Elon Musk as “the most lit person that [has] ever been on Twitter”, following the latter’s accusations of Nazism at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
Further posts saw him mock other marginalised communities, claim that “slavery is a choice” and more. The spree saw his X account taken down and deactivated, and it was later confirmed that the rapper had been dropped by his talent agency, and his former Chief Of Staff had quit the Yeezy company.
As well as his X page becoming active again, last week saw Shopify state that the artist’s website was taken down due to the potential for fraud – not because it was selling a swastika t-shirt.
In the time since the rant on social media, Kanye West’s ‘Vultures’ collaborator Ty Dolla $ign has condemned his hate speech, Charlie Puth begged West to stop promoting “incredibly dangerous” messages, and Friends star David Schwimmer called for action to be taken against the rapper for his hate-filled “Nazi” posts, arguing that “silence is complicity”.
Elsewhere, Ye has been sued for discrimination by a former Yeezy employee, and accused of texting “Hail Hitler” to a Jewish staff member.
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