Denounced by Adidas and kicked off Twitter twice: A timeline of Kanye West’s anti-Semitic outbursts that have cost him millions

The service’s owner, Elon Musk, seemed to have no other choice than to suspend the rapper’s account after West tweeted an image depicting a Nazi swastika inside a Star of David, a Jewish religious symbol. 

“I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended,” Musk tweeted on Thursday in response to a Twitter user’s plea to “fix” West, who also goes by the name Ye.

Before his account was suspended, West posted screenshots on Twitter of a private conversation between him and Musk. A message from Musk read: “Sorry but you have gone too far. This is not love.” West responded,  “who made you the judge.”

West’s Twitter account was recently reinstated after it was suspended for anti-Semitic tweets in October. The reinstatement came shortly after Musk announced a “general amnesty” for suspended accounts. 

In recent weeks, West has made a number of anti-Semitic comments that cost him several business partnerships, including with Adidas and fashion house Balenciaga. 

Here’s a timeline of West’s abrupt fall.

Oct. 3: West wore a shirt printed with “White Lives Matter,” during a Yeezy (or YZY) event at fashion week in Paris. 

Oct. 6: Adidas said it would review its relationship with West. In a statement shared with CNBC, it said: “After repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.”

On that same day, West joined Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his show, and when asked about his controversial t-shirt that elicited widespread criticism, West said: “The answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is because they do.” 

Oct. 7: After Sean Combs—the rapper that goes by Diddy—criticized West’s “White Lives Matter” shirt, West suggested that Combs was controlled by Jews on Instagram. On that same day, West’s account was suspended. 

Oct. 8-9: West posted anti-Semitic tweets, including one that read: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He also posted a photo of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with the caption, “look at this Mark. How you gone kick me off Instagram.” Twitter suspended West’s account soon after. 

Oct. 16: West appeared on Drink Champs, a hip-hop community podcast, on which he said: “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?” 

Oct. 22: Balenciaga cut ties with West. Before the formal statement announcing the end of the partnership, Balenciaga had begun removing images of West from its website. 

Oct. 25: Adidas terminated its partnership with West, after days of pressure to drop him. In its announcement the company said: “adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

Nov. 20: After Musk reinstated West’s Twitter account, West tweeted “shalom.” And now less than two weeks later, West has been suspended from Twitter again. 

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