DControversial US rapper Kanye West has again found himself in the sights of US courts due to repeated anti-Semitic and Hitler-glorifying statements. “Jews are after me” and “Jews want my money,” West told employees. That's according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in California by his former employee, Trevor Phillips.
While dining at an expensive restaurant, the rapper, who has previously spoken publicly about his mental health issues, described Adolf Hitler as “awesome”. “He invented so much. 'We have him to thank for having cars,'” West is said to have said, likely repeating the legend that Hitler invented the freeway. In fact, most of the plans for building freeways came from the Weimar era.
Kanye West apologized late last year
Phillips also described West regularly yelling at the all-black staff. “Kanye also prohibited his employees from being fat,” the indictment states. At the school he founded, he ordered two children to shave their heads and threatened to lock them in cages.
Phillips, who worked for the West fashion brand and the school he founded for nearly a year, is demanding $35,000 (€32,500) in damages. “We hope (…) that West understands that his messages, which we believe preach discrimination, anti-Semitism and love for Hitler, have no place in the world,” emphasized his lawyer Carney Shegerian.
At the end of last year – shortly before the release of his new album – Kanye West apologized for previous anti-Semitic statements. The rapper, who has renamed himself Ye, wrote in Hebrew on the online platform Instagram that he wants to “learn” from this experience and be more sensitive and understanding in the future. At this point, his failures were more than a year ago.
In October 2022, Kanye West threatened Jews on the online service X (then Twitter). He was then banned from using the online service. German sports goods manufacturer Adidas and other companies also ended their cooperation with the rapper. A few weeks later, West, who admitted to having bipolar disorder, said in an interview that he likes Hitler and “loves Nazis.”