Ye has spent the past several years diving deeper and deeper into far-right conspiracies and bigotry. The rapper formerly known as Kanye West apologized for recent antisemitic stunts and singles in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, blaming his actions on an undiagnosed brain injury.
“Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed,” he began. “It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.”
Ye ran through the ruinous effects of his injury and subsequent diagnosis, saying it caused him to avoid seeking the help he needed.
“You don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,” he wrote. “I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret.”
The rapper attempted to sell swastika t-shirts last year and released a song praising Adolf Hitler. In the ad, Ye said his wife pushed him to get the help he needed and that he found comfort in Reddit forums on living with bipolar disorder. He apologized directly to Jewish people and the Black community.
“I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people,” he wrote. “To the black community… I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.”
Ye said he was “deeply mortified” by his past actions and said he was “committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change.”
“As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity,” he wrote. “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”
Read more
about this topic
