Ye, the entertainer and fashion designer formally known as Kanye West, had a disastrous week. Always outrageous, his recent antisemitic comments were the last straw prompting practically everyone to sever ties with him, from his bank, JP Morgan Chase, to his billion-dollar shoe partnership with Adidas. I’ve never been a fan and I don’t think I could name a single song of his, however, my thoughts are around the public reaction or lack thereof last week and in previous years. It’s an interesting case study. Ye’s situation has dominated social media in recent days. One of the more interesting questions that I have seen pop up several times is why the penalty he suffered for antisemitism was so severe when his previous comments about slavery or his recent stunt during fashion week where he wore a t-shirt that said “White Lives Matter” had no impact whatsoever and may have even raised his profile. The implication, of course, is that you can say offensive things about Black people without repercussion but not Jewish people. I think there is more to the story than that. Let’s examine how the Black and Jewish communities reacted to Ye’s comments. The response to Ye’s antisemitic tweet was swift, uniform, and harsh. There was no debate. Ben Shapiro or Bernie Sanders, Conservative or liberal, secular or Orthodox, the Jewish community did not waver in its condemnation of Ye’s comments, and in doing so, the rest of the country followed in solidarity. Comparatively, the Black community was less aligned with Ye’s statements about Blacks. Sure, there were prominent voices that denounced what he said, but it was far from uniform, and consumers, both inside and outside of the Black community, still purchased his music and apparel without reservation.
