Sources who have worked with the artist formerly known as Kanye West have claimed he’s long-held a fascination with Hitler.
CNN reports that several people who have been close to Ye said he once wanted to name an album after the Nazi leader. “He would praise Hitler by saying how incredible it was that he was able to accumulate so much power and would talk about all the great things he and the Nazi Party achieved for the German people,” said one business executive, who chose to remain anonymous. Those in his close circle were apparently “fully aware” of his alleged interest in Hitler, and four sources said his 2018 album Ye was at one point almost named Hitler.
The executive claimed Ye created a hostile work environment, and his “obsession” with Hitler is at least partly to blame. They left the position and came to a settlement with Ye over alleged harassment in the workplace. When they cut ties with the multi-hyphenate, they signed a confidentiality agreement in which Ye denied the allegations made against him. Ye apparently also openly spoke about his “admiration” for the Nazis and Hitler’s propaganda, and said he read Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf.
The report comes not long after former TMZ employee Van Lathan Jr. said Kanye professed his “love” for Hitler during his infamous 2018 “slavery was a choice” interview. One of the sources who spoke with CNN said they were present during that TMZ visit, and corroborated Lathan’s comments.
Kanye has made many anti-Semitic comments as of late, and in his latest rambling interview he spoke with MIT research scientist Lex Fridman. He shared many false statements about the Holocaust, abortion, and the Jewish community. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, he repeated a conspiracy theory about Jewish philanthropist and activist George Soros, who he claimed “would use the Black trauma economy to win an election.” Even stranger, he suggested “a Jewish doctor” diagnosed him with “bipolar disorder and shot me with medication.”
His embrace of dangerous conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric first started when he publicly expressed his appreciation for Donald Trump in 2016, but he’s been far more outspoken in recent months. It all recently kicked off after he sported a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt alongside notorious far-right political pundit Candace Owens, who was once forced to explain her own praise of Hitler at a congressional hearing about white nationalism in 2019.
