Fox News went all-in on Kanye West – just before he made antisemitic remarks on social media
Written by John Kerr
Research contributions from Tyler Monroe & Reed McMaster
Published
In the days before Kanye West made antisemitic remarks in posts on Twitter and Instagram, Fox News dedicated more than two and a half hours of largely fawning coverage to the mogul.
On October 3, Daily Wire personality Candace Owens posted a photograph of herself with West, both wearing “White Lives Matter” shirts. In the days after that post through Saturday, October 8, Fox News aired 2 hours and 34 minutes of West coverage in its original programming; roughly 69 minutes of that coverage was Fox host Tucker Carlson’s interview with West.
West also received a lot of positive coverage on Fox’s other platforms. As of this morning, Carlson’s interview is still featured on Fox Nation. One Fox News website headline even claimed: “Ye kicked off Instagram following feud sparked by 'White Lives Matter' t-shirt, he says: 'Look at this'”
After Fox lifted up West as a brave truth-teller, West posted blatantly antisemitic remarks on Instagram and Twitter:
The star had his Instagram account suspended at the weekend after accusing rapper Diddy of being controlled by Jewish people.
The message played into a long-standing anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
West responded to his suspension by rejoining Twitter and saying he would go "death con 3 On Jewish people", earning him a second disbarment.
Both platforms removed West's posts and said the star had violated policies on hate speech.
Fox slightly pivoted in its tenor late in the October 9 episode of Fox & Friends Weekend, when hosts admitted that West’s remarks were “ugly” – and then immediately complained that social media platforms removed them.
FoxNews.com, meanwhile, was busy removing posts from its comments section on a piece about West.