Kanye West news - live: Rapper ‘plays porn’ for documentary execs as Jamie Lee Curtis blasts ‘abhorrent’ posts

Shortly after being restricted on his Instagram account after sharing anti-Semitic posts, Kanye West violated Twitter’s policies by sharing a separate anti-Semitic post and led to him being locked out of that account.

The posts have since been removed but the memory of the messages have left a stain online, prompting calls for the social media giants to “permanently ban” him from the platforms.

Late Saturday night, the rapper, now known as Ye, sent a tweet that said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records. That’s an apparent reference to the US military readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

He then alleged that he wasn’t “Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.”

The tweet was removed by Twitter and replaced with text that said it violated the Twitter Rules, linking back to the company’s platform use guidelines

Earlier over the weekend, West shared a post on Instagram that suggested that Sean “Diddy” Combs was being controlled by Jewish people.

The Anti-Defamation League has labelled West’s behaviour and messages over the past week as “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period”.

Key points

• Kanye West’s Twitter, Instagram locked over offensive posts

• Users demand ‘permanent ban’ after rapper shares anti-Semitic messages

• Fox hosts forced to make on-air U-turn over support for Kanye West

• Lizzo reacts to Kanye West’s comments about her weight

Jamie Lee Curtis angrily condemns Kanye West’s ‘abhorrent’ anti-Semitic posts: ‘I hope he gets help’

18:45 , Graeme Massie

Rapper’s recent social media tirade caused an uproar, with many calling for the social media giants to ‘permanently ban’ him from the platforms.

Inga Parkel has the story.

Jamie Lee Curtis angrily condemns Kanye West’s anti-Semitic ‘abhorrent’ post

Indiana attorney general faces backlash after seeming to defend Kanye West

18:20 , Johanna Chisholm

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was taken to task for comments he made on Twitter on Sunday, where he appeared to defend Kanye West who he viewed as being the latest victim of a cancel culture gone awry.

“The constant hypocrisy from the media is at an all-time high. They have now gone after Kanye for his new fashion line, his independent thinking, & for having opposing thoughts from the norm of Hollywood,” tweeted the Mr Rokita on Sunday.

He later followed up that tweet in a thread and clarified that his post was in reference to Mr West’s comments about “Hollywood elite” and had nothing to do with the comments the rapper made on Saturday night that got him locked out of Twitter.

“My post was specifically and clearly aimed at the hypocrisy of the media and Hollywood elites, not anything to do with other comments. I have an obvious, clear and substantial Congressional and public record of being 100% supportive of the Jewish community and Israel,” he tweeted in a follow-up message.

Beneath Mr Rokita’s thread, however, many online began questioning the timing of the attorney general’s message of support for West, who had only hours earlier been locked from the platform for his comments.

“You came to Kanye’s defense immediately after he made anti-semitic remarks -- this isn’t complicated,” tweeted Marc Bodnick, while reporter Marisa Kabas tweeted: “hi todd! jew here. can you tell me how extreme antisemitism equals “independent thinking”?”

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman quote tweeted the attorney general and expressed her disdain at the chief legal advisor’s remarks, writing: “Regardless of what motivates Kanye West, an attorney general defending someone for a lengthy public attack on Jews is a new dimension to 2022.”

Elon Musk welcomed West back to Twitter shortly before the rapper was locked out of account

18:00 , Johanna Chisholm

On Friday night, when Kanye West took to Twitter to put Mark Zuckerberg on notice after his Instagram account was restricted for policy violating posts, Tesla founder Elon Musk welcomed the rapper “back to Twitter”.

West had posted an old photo of himself and the Facebook founder on Twitter with a caption that asked: “How you gone kick me off instagram.”

In the comment section below, the SpaceX founder wrote back: “Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!”

Kanye West releases ‘Last Week’, 30-minute documentary of unaired footage

17:46 , Johanna Chisholm

Kanye West released a 30-minute documentary on Monday morning, which shows his behind-the-scenes business dealings with Adidas executives, teases the release of new music and shows unaired footage of the rapper with his family.

In some of the clips, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, can be seen in tense business meetings with executives and managers at Adidas about his new clothing line with the fashion label.

In another choppy sequence, the Donda artist can be heard teasing new music. In one song, he raps: “You a fake b**ch/You don’t really love Ye, go listen to Drake, b**ch/You don’t have no idea what it take, b**ch/Go listen to Lil Baby, go listen to Future, b**ch.”

Another clip shows West derailing a meeting he took with two executives at Adidas, where he appears to screen a pornographic video for the pair. The executive, who isn’t identified, attempts to maintain control of the meeting, and can he heard saying to West: “Come on.”

In a final clip, West shows an intimate family moment with his daughter North West where he is seen attending one of her basketball games.

A clip in the 30-minute film also shows the entrepreneur speaking with someone on the phone where he appears to be having conversations about brand management.

“It’s time for me to shut the f*** up for the first time, do exactly what everybody’s wanted me to do for the longest.”

Watch the full video here:

House Judiciary GOP sparks outrage with tweet championing Kanye West

17:30 , Johanna Chisholm

The House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have been blasted for keeping up a tweet simply saying “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” in reference to rapper Kanye West, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump, despite Mr West’s suspension from Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts.

“Who are three people we really don’t need to hear from ever again, Alex?” one Twitter user said in reference to late Jeopardy host Alex Trebek.

Though the tweet was sent Thursday, prior to Mr West making posts that have been widely acknowledged as anti-Semitic, the official Twitter account for the Republican House Committee on the Judiciary has kept the message up, drawing much ire in the process.

Keep reading the full report from Gustaf Kilander here:

House Judiciary GOP sparks outrage with tweet championing Kanye West

Lizzo reacts to West’s comments about her weight

17:20 , Johanna Chisholm

Lizzo has appeared to respond to Kanye West’s comments about her weight.

In a recent Fox News interview, the Donda rapper said that what he saw as the promotion of obesity by social media companies was “demonic”.

“When Lizzo loses 10 pounds and announces it, the bots… on Instagram, they attack her losing weight because the media wants to put out a perception that being overweight is the new goal when it’s actually unhealthy,” West, who legally changed his name to Ye, told host Tucker Carlson.

During a concert last week- in Toronto, Lizzo appeared to respond back to Ye’s comments, saying: “I feel like everybody in America got my motherf***ing name in their motherf***ing mouth for no motherf***ing reason.

“I’m minding my fat Black beautiful business,” she added.

Anti-Defamation League accuses West of using ‘antisemitic tropes’

16:58 , Johanna Chisholm

The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish NGO specialising in civil rights law, has called out Kanye West for his behaviour and posts over the past week and labelled it “antisemitic. Period”.

“Power. Disloyalty. Greed. Deicide. Blood. Denial. Anti-Zionism. All of these are antisemitic tropes that we break down in our #AntisemitismUncovered Guide at https://antisemitism.adl.org. Many of these myths have influenced @KanyeWest‘s comments recently, and it’s dangerous,” the anti-hate group tweeted on Sunday, less than a day after the rapper was locked out of his Twitter account for posts that were widely deemed antisemitic.

Earlier, the group had tweeted more explicitly about the artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and his messages being “deeply troubling”.

“The behavior exhibited this week by @kanyewest is deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period. There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic #antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,” the group tweeted on Friday.

Kanye West goes after Zuckerberg after Instagram account restricted

16:52 , Johanna Chisholm

Late on Friday night, Kanye West posted an old photo of himself and Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter with a caption that asked: “How you gone kick me off instagram.”

The swipe at the Facebook founder arrived after a post from the rapper had been deleted and his account restricted after he shared a post that Meta said was “violating our policies”.

That post in question was one where West had shared a screenshot of a purported text conversation with Sean “Diddy” Combs on his Instagram page. The post suggested that Combs was being controlled by Jewish people and has since been taken down. It was quickly condemned by the American Jewish Committee, an anti-hate group, who slammed West for his “dangerous” and anti-Semitic comments on their Instagram page.

Read the full report from Jenna Amatulli here:

Kanye West’s Instagram restricted after anti-Semitic post, goes after Mark Zuckerberg

Fox News hosts forced to make on-air U-turn over support for Kanye West

16:47 , Johanna Chisholm

Fox News hosts conceded that Kanye West’s post directed at Jewish people was “ugly” and “condemnable”, making a swift on-air U-turn shortly after supporting the rapper.

Fox News hosts Will Cain and Pete Hegseth along with co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy defended West on Sunday after he was suspended from Instagram for posts that were condemned as anti-Semitic.

While Cain and Hegseth said they did not see the posts because they were censored, Campos-Duffy who saw the posts said it was “totalitarian” and “anti-American” for Instagram to delete them.

Hegseth said the rapper would not have been suspended had he not appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show earlier this week.

Yet, after speaking in his defence in an earlier part of the segment, the Fox & Friends Weekend hosts returned to the television screens with a very different perspective after coming to know what he had actually posted.

“We talked about it earlier without knowing about these tweets and saying of course they’re going to put a target, after what he said with Tucker, there’s going to be a target, no doubt,” Hegseth said. “But in this particular case, he brought the target.”

Read the full report from Shweta Sharma here:

Fox News hosts forced to make humiliating on-air U-turn over support for Kanye West

Users call for ‘permanent ban’ on Kanye West’s Twitter account after offensive posts

16:44 , Johanna Chisholm

On the heels of having his Instagram restricted after sharing anti-Semitic posts, Kanye West has now violated Twitter’s rules with an anti-Semitic tweet that’s since been removed and prompted calls to “permanently ban” him from the platform.

He’s also been locked from using the platform.

Late on Saturday night, Mr West shared a tweet that declared he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people and alleged that he wasn’t “Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.” The tweet was removed by Twitter and replaced with text that said it violated the Twitter Rules, linking back to the company’s platform use guidelines.

“Stop excusing Kanye West with ‘mental health problems.’ He needs a permanent ban for his antisemitic tweet and to be fully exiled for spreading this hateful rhetoric,” wrote writer Monisha Rajesh.

Keep reading the full report from The Independent’s Jenna Amatulli here:

Twitter locked Kanye West’s account after anti-Semitic tweet

Welcome to live blog on Kanye West

16:38 , Johanna Chisholm

Here starts The Independent’s live coverage on the fallout from Kanye West’s anti-Semitic posts on social media platforms over the weekend.

Follow along here for live updates into the reaction to the rapper getting locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts over the messages he shared on the platforms over the weekend.