Kanye West has sparked outrage once again with his latest social media antics, this time posting an image of what appears to be a Ku Klux Klan hood.
The rapper, 47, is seemingly not backing down from a string of recent controversies, from branding himself a ‘Nazi’, to his Grammys stunt with wife Bianca Censori, in which she posed in a completely see-through ensemble on the red carpet.
There seems to be no stopping Kanye and his disturbing behaviour, and that’s even more concerning. He regularly gets away with spreading the most troubling vitriol online without any repercussions.
Over the weekend, Kanye returned to Instagram to share what might be his most horrifying post yet, an image of what appears to be Ku Klux Klan robes with the caption, ‘Outfit of the day.’
Founded in 1865 in Southern America, the Ku Klux Klan is a Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group widely considered to be America’s first terrorist group.
Frustratingly, it’s Kanye’s fans that have been left to call him out on his worrying social media activity, after tech bosses have failed to de-platform him time and time again.
This isn’t even the first hate-filled post laden with vile language that he’s shared.
Kanye has attempted to sell T-shirts emblazoned with a swastika as well as several offensive posts on Elon Musk’s X, in which he declared: ‘I love Hitler’ and ‘I’m a Nazi’.
People have been quick to rightfully point out Kanye’s immunity when it comes to these posts, saying he would be ‘dragged into court’ if he were in the UK, where the Online Safety Act’s list of offences includes spreading racially or religiously aggravated hate online.
Legal experts have claimed it’s unlikely that Kanye will face any charges for his hate-filled language as it ‘doesn’t meet the definition of the California Department of Justice in classifying hate’, but that doesn’t mean he should bypass punishment.
It still stands that Kanye is looked up to by millions of young people and he remains one of the most influential people in the world.
It’s important to keep calling out his behaviour for what it is. It’s not entertainment, it’s hate speech. If legal action isn’t possible, he has to be de-platformed.
But Kanye seems to rise above facing any kind of punishment for his actions.
Last year in the UK we saw the first jail sentences being handed down for encouraging disorder on social media after the devastating stabbings in Southport.
At the time of the arrests, Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson stated: ‘We do have dedicated police officers who are scouring social media, their job is to look for this material, and then follow up with identification, arrests, and so forth.’
He added that although people may not think they are doing anything wrong, ‘they are and the consequences will be visited upon them.’
It’s essential that celebrities like Kanye are included in this when it comes to what they use social media for. The impact his hatred will have on the communities he’s targeting could be devastating.
Calls for Kanye to face a punishment are now coming in thick and fast, with social media user Miss Prime writing: ‘Needs to be arrested for incitement to hatred.’
While Chuck1 writes: ‘Any body else would have been arrested.’
Despite the backlash, Kanye always appears to come out unscathed. In fact, it was him that deactivated his X account after an outburst earlier this year.
After having a ‘sensitive content warning’ added to it, Kanye later deleted his X account.
(Picture: X/Twitter)
‘I’m logging out of Twitter,’ he wrote. ‘I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent.
‘It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board. It was like an Ayahuasca trip. Love all of you who gave me your energy and attention. To we connect again [sic]. Good afternoon and goodnight.’
It should be the social media bosses who are intervening instead of shamelessly burying their head in the sand as he uses his platform to fuel hatred.
In fact, X boss Elon Musk previously suspended Kanye back in 2022 for ‘inciting violence’ but later allowed him back. Clearly nothing has changed.
And it’s not just his legion of fans who have denounced Kanye, celebrities and organisations are now calling for him to be removed from social media altogether.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism previously said: ‘Once again, Ye has gone on an antisemitic rampage online. It couldn’t be any clearer that he is an unrepentant, proud antisemite.
‘At a time of unprecedented antisemitism, there can be no mistaking this incitement for exactly what it is. We call on Elon Musk to remove him from X.’
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Friends actor David Schwimmer has also urged Elon Musk to remove Kanye’s platform, saying: ‘Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.
‘I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he identifies as a Nazi (which implies he wants to exterminate ALL marginalized communities including his own) or the fact that there is not sufficient OUTRAGE to remove and ban him from all social media at this point.’
‘Silence is complicity.’
It’s a shame that despite his huge success, including selling 100 million records and winning 24 Grammys, Kanye has decided to use his platform in this way. Unfortunately, he shows no signs of stopping any time soon.
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