The Anti-Defamation League has spoken out against Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, following the rapper’s bout of antisemitic posts on X over the weekend that recently escalated into the sale of swastika T-shirts on his website.
In a statement posted to X Monday (Feb. 10), the ADL — which works to combat antisemitism and other forms of bigotry — called the “Donda” artist’s words for what they were. “As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website – a t-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” the organization wrote. “The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century and continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy.”
“If that wasn’t enough, the t-shirt is labeled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01,’ which is code for ‘Heil Hitler,’” the post continued. “There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior. Even worse, Kanye advertised his website during the Super Bowl, amplifying it beyond his already massive social media audience.”
Indeed, Ye advertised his Yeezy website during the 2025 Super Bowl broadcast Sunday (Feb. 9), which aired amid a days-long storm of hateful tweets from the star targeting Jewish people. In addition to selling shirts emblazoned with one of the most famous symbols of hate in world history and openly declaring himself to be a Nazi on X, the musician also called for the release of Diddy — who is awaiting trial on numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse — and insulted Taylor Swift before his account on the Elon Musk-owned platform was deleted.
On the ADL website, CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt shared his own statement responding to Ye’s behavior. “We know this game all too well,” Greenblatt wrote Friday (Feb. 7). “Let’s call Ye’s hate-filled public rant for what it really is: a sad attempt for attention that uses Jews as a scapegoat … Words matter. And as we’ve seen too many times before, hateful rhetoric can prompt real-world consequences.”
This isn’t the first time Ye has loudly and publicly discriminated against Jewish people. He first posted antisemitic rhetoric on his X account in October 2022, around the same time he featured “White Lives Matter” T-shirts in his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show. Several companies have since cut ties with the hip-hop icon while numerous public figures have distanced themselves from him, and Ye ended up losing his billionaire status due to the fallout; in January, however, he claimed that he had become a billionaire once again.
