Kanye West Says He Lost $2 Billion in One Day Following Antisemitic Comments
After coming under fire for antisemitic comments, rapper Kanye West posted on Instagram on Thursday seemingly responding to being dropped by multiple brands.
The post has garnered almost 1.5 million likes.
"Ari Emmanuel. I lost 2 billion dollars in one day. And I'm still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am," West wrote on the post, which was captioned as "LOVE SPEECH."
The first line is in response to Emanuel, the CEO of Endeavor, who called on businesses earlier this week to sever ties with West following his antisemitic comments.
West, who goes by Ye, has faced backlash for an antisemitic tweet that has since been deleted. As a result, the rapper's Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted for violating the companies' policies.
In recent days, brands like Gap and Adidas announced they were ending their partnerships with West because of his comments.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
The move is expected to have a negative impact of up to $246 million on the company's net income this year, the company revealed on Tuesday.
West's ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, responded to the comments more than two weeks after West's comments, posting on Twitter that "hate speech is never OK or excusable."
"I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end," Kardashian tweeted on Oct. 24.
Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) October 24, 2022
West is also no longer represented by his longtime talent agency CAA, which dropped West earlier this month. West's actions also emboldened people in Los Angeles to hang a banner on the freeway over the weekend that read, "Kanye is right about the Jews."
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
