Twitter on Friday suspended American rapper Kanye West’s account for “inciting violence” after posting an image of a swastika intertwined with a Star of David as well as admiring remarks for Hitler.
“Just to clarify that his account has been suspended for incitement to violence,” said social media boss Elon Musk, in response to the image associating the symbols of the Nazi regime and Judaism posted by the rapper, more and more. more isolated after his recent anti-Semitic remarks.
Owner and boss of the platform since October, Elon Musk has until now advocated an absolute vision of freedom of expression.
During an ubiquitous appearance on the show “Infowars”, hosted by conspiratorial presenter Alex Jones, the American rapper, who now calls himself Ye and wore a black balaclava covering his entire face, embarked on Thursday in a tirade on sin, pornography and the devil.
“I love Hitler”, had launched the star several times, triggering a deluge of condemnations on social networks.
“You have gone too far”
And a few hours later, the boss of Twitter announced his suspension from the social network after an exchange between the two men that the rapper then made public.
“Sorry but you went too far, it’s not love,” wrote the boss of Twitter in a private message. West responded by challenging Elon Musk: ‘who made you the judge’?
The rapper had also shared a photo of a shirtless Elon Musk getting doused in water, which was captioned, “Let’s always remember this as my last tweet.”
Even before this suspension and due to several anti-Semitic remarks, many brands had cut ties in recent weeks with Kanye West, in particular the sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, the ready-to-wear chain Gap and the fashion house Balenciaga.
The parent company of Parler, Parliament Technologies, for its part announced that it was giving up being bought out by the rap giant. A decision “taken in mid-November”, assured the company at the helm of this social network, very popular with ultra-conservatives for its defense of almost unlimited freedom of expression.
Kanye West initially announced his desire to buy Parler, after recent anti-Semitic comments made him a persona non grata in the business world and earned him deletions from his posts on Instagram and Twitter.
“I love Nazis”
On the set of “Infowars” Thursday, the 45-year-old rapper, who says he suffers from bipolar disorder and recently suggested he could run for president of the United States in 2024, redoubled his provocation.
“I see positive things about Hitler too,” he said. “This guy (…) invented the highways, invented the microphone that I use as a musician. You can’t say publicly that this person did anything right, and I’m sick of it.”
“I’m sick of labels, every human being has brought something of value, especially Hitler,” he insisted, prompting shocked laughter from his host, far-right conspirator Alex Jones .
“The Nazis were thugs and did very bad things,” tried to correct Mr. Jones, recently sentenced to pay nearly a billion dollars for denying the reality of a killing in a school.
“But they did good things too,” the rapper retorted. “We have to stop insulting the Nazis all the time. (…) I love the Nazis.”
In recent weeks, several members of his former professional entourage had denounced to the American media the fascination of Kanye West for Hitler.
This new rapper scandal prompted the Republican Jewish Coalition to directly challenge his political friends on Thursday.
Close to the “Grand Old Party”, the organization, which recently hosted many Republican Party figures in Las Vegas, denounced Kanye West as an “infamous and repugnant bigot who targeted the Jewish community with threats and defamation worthy of the Nazis.
“Conservatives who made the mistake of tolerating Kanye West need to be clear that he is an outcast,” she added.