Kanye West’s biggest controversies throughout his career: This is the rapper-songwriter’s apology

Kanye West once again apologized for the antisemitic comments he has made since 2022. The rapper published his apology in a letter in The Wall Street Journal, where he explained that his statements were connected to neurological damage caused by a car accident in 2002. According to West, the accident had a severe impact on his mental health and eventually led to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

“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 deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed [...] 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,” Ye explained.

“Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense mechanism. 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 [...] The scariest part of this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You do not need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, 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,” he added.

The artist explained that during this vulnerable period of his life, he gravitated toward what he called “the most destructive symbol”: the swastika. “One of the most 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 [...] is unquestionably, te foundation of who I am [...] I love us,” he stated.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ye clarified that his apology was not a “PR move.”

The controversial comments that led Kanye West to lose much of his fortune

In October 2022, Ye became the focus of widespread criticism after posting several antisemitic remarks on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, including one that alluded to violence against Jewish people. In addition to his posts on X, Kanye told Piers Morgan that he only wanted to hurt Jewish individuals whom he felt had mistreated him in the music industry and in business.

During an appearance on the program InfoWars, he also made comments praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, while denying the existence of the Holocaust. In another conversation with Gavin McInnes, founder of the extremist group Proud Boys, he asked the Jewish community to forgive Hitler, claiming that Jewish people disliked the German dictator because he had kicked them out of the country.

Following these statements, the rapper began losing major brand partnerships, including his relationship with Adidas, which cost him the majority of his fortune. West first publicly apologized in December 2023, but his offensive remarks continued. Two years later, in an interview with Candace Owens that was recorded in 2022 but released in 2024, Ye revealed that he had been drinking when he made those posts.

In early 2025, he shared a new series of antisemitic attacks on X, praising Hitler, defending Sean “Diddy” Combs, admitting to having assaulted women, and posting pornography. At that time, his X account was deactivated. In February of the previous year, Ye also sold T-shirts featuring swastikas.

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