Trump defends Kanye West amid deepening antisemitism controversy: ‘He was great to me’

Donald Trump has defended Kanye West amid the rapper’s deepening antisemitism controversy, insisting that the rapper has always “been great to me.”

Mr Trump, whose daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and grandchildren are all Jewish, was asked by Salem News’s Larry O’Connor how he felt about West’s recent attacks.

“Well, I haven’t really seen the statements he’s made. I did watch the Tucker Carlson interview and he was really nice to me. Beyond anybody, he was. He was great to me,” said the former president.

Earlier this month, Mr West told Mr Carlson on the right-wing host’s Fox News show that he believed Mr Kushner’s work on Middle East peace “was to make money.”

Mr West has been widely criticised for a string of recent interviews in which he has made antisemitic comments, but Mr Trump refused to be drawn in on it with Mr O’Connor.

“And he was great, really, to MAGA, to the MAGA movement, which was very impressive. I was, you know, not surprised. I always got along with him. I liked him. I’ve always gotten along with him,” Mr Trump continued. “So I don’t really know what statements he made. Sometimes he’ll make a statement and a lot of people will think it’s worse than he means it to be.”

He later added: “He was really high on a guy named Donald Trump.”

Mr West’s recent round of controversy started after he wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt at a Paris fashion show. He then took to Instagram where he posted screenshots of messages in which he stated that rapper Diddy was being controlled by Jews.

After his account was locked, he went to Twitter and posted that he was tired and when he woke up he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” The social media platform went on to restrict his account access.

Mr West then conducted an interview with right-wing host Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

Unaired footage from that interview was then leaked to Vice in which West made a string of antisemitic comments as well as bizarre conspiracy theories.

In one comment, West said that he preferred his children with Kim Kardashian to learn about Hanukkah rather than Kwanzaa because “at least it will come with some financial engineering.”

He then did an interview on the Drink Champs podcast in which he continued to make antisemitic remarks and spread misinformation about George Floyd’s death. The episode has now been pulled from YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.

In a Monday night interview, Mr West also told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that a “Jewish underground media mafia” is trying to destroy his career.