As a result of the rapper’s antisemitic outbursts over the weekend, Kanye West’s Twitter account has apparently been restricted.
According to a spokesman, “The account in issue has been locked due to a breach of Twitter’s regulations,” they told Buzzfeed News on Sunday.
Twitter made its decision after West railed against Jews in a tweet on Saturday that was taken down for breaking the site’s rules. The rapper said on Twitter that he was “doing death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” but he also said that he couldn’t be anti-Semitic since black people are also Jews.
“You people have messed with me and attempted to black ball everyone that opposes your agenda,” the tweet said.
Ye’s first tweet on the network since 2020, it was also his first after his Instagram account was banned. The fashion designer quickly tweeted a picture of himself with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter, with the caption: “Mark, look at this. How did you remove me from Instagram?”
West returned to the platform in Elon Musk’s response to the post, which also had a hazy image of Ye and Zuckerberg. Musk is in talks to buy Twitter.
After making comments during an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, in which West accused the Jewish politician Jared Kushner of brokering the Abraham Accords for his own financial gain, as Insider’s Joshua Zitser reported, West has come under criticism for his antisemitic statements.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, the “Hurricane” rapper also included an image of what looked to be a text message between him and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The owner of Bad Boy Records would serve as “an example to demonstrate the Jewish individuals that encouraged you to contact me that no one can intimidate or influence me,” he said.
Ye’s remarks were condemned by a number of Jewish organizations, including The American Jewish Committee. The advocacy organization criticized the rapper for utilizing stereotypical portrayals of Jews and asked him to “make a point without employing racism.”
After wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his Yeezy design show in Paris last week, West came under fire from activists and celebrities. Actor Jaden Smith, who allegedly left his YZYSZN9 program, and Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, both immediately expressed their disapproval of West for wearing the shirt in a picture with conservative commentator Candace Owens.
Gigi Hadid, a model, also criticized West when he made an effort to undermine Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, a Vogue editor, for calling his “white Lives Matter” shirts “pure violence” and “hugely irresponsible.”