The artist formerly known as Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, pushed openly antisemitic ideas and conspiracy theories over the course of a nearly two-and-a-half-hour interview yesterday with popular YouTube host Lex Fridman. The video has been viewed at least 1.6 million times as of publication, and is sponsored by Shopify, InsideTracker, Indeed, ExpressVPN, and Athletic Greens, according to the video's description. 

The October 24 interview has already spread widely in online extremist spaces, and it has been celebrated on social media by antisemites and Holocaust deniers.

YouTube’s terms of service prohibit posting hate speech on its platform, including “content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups” based on ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion, among other attributes.

Ye put forward a laundry list of anti-Jewish bigotry and tropes, accusing Jews of controlling nearly every aspect of public life in the United States.

“Ninety percent of Black people in entertainment from sports to music to acting are in some way tied into Jewish business people,” he said. “Meaning that in some way just like if, if Rahm [Emanuel] is sitting next to Obama or Jared [Kushner] is sitting next to Trump, there’s a Jewish person right there controlling the country.”

He also repeatedly accused Jews of controlling the media. 

Fridman explained, “When you say Jewish media, it – there’s an echo of pain that people feel that reminds an entire – ” 

“You’re saying it’s redundant, right?” Ye interrupted. 

“No, I’m not saying it’s redundant,” Fridman responded.

“I’m saying it’s redundant,” Ye said.

“You’re saying it’s redundant,” Fridman clarified. “I’m saying that it’s something Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany said.”

Ye also repeatedly compared abortion to the Holocaust, a common antisemitic trope among extremists. 

“We’re still in the Holocaust,” he said “A Jewish friend of mine said, ‘Come, go visit the Holocaust Museum,’ and my response was let’s visit our Holocaust Museum – Planned Parenthood.”

“Six million people died in the Holocaust, over 20 million have died by the hands of abortion,” Ye added.

Later in the interview, Ye returned to the topic, referring to abortion as “genocide and population control” of Black people “that is promoted by the music and the media that Black people make that Jewish record labels get paid off of.”

Ye also said the liberal philanthropist George Soros “control[s] the world silently” and claimed that “Soros would use Black trauma economy for – to win an election.”