Ye praised Adolf Hitler, repeated conspiracies about Jewish people and paid off a former employee who accused him of using anti-Semitic language, according to a report.
NBC News said it spoke to three former employees or collaborators of the rapper and three people who witnessed a 2018 tirade at the TMZ offices. Only one, a conceptual artist who worked with the artist formerly known as Kanye West between 2014 and 2018, spoke on the record.
Ryder Ripps claimed Ye spoke positively about Hitler and the Nazis on multiple occasions and mentioned anti-Jewish conspiracies during meetings.
“He had told me a bunch of s**t about, like, how ‘Nazis are good at propaganda,’” said Ripps who added that Ye claimed “Jews have codes.”
Ripps, who is Jewish, said he pushed back at the time but thought Ye’s comments “didn’t seem that dangerous.”
Now, he said, "this is dangerous and disgusting and actually violent. With this pattern that’s happening and with the doubling and tripling down of all this, it’s pretty obvious that this is some kind of disgusting, hate-filled, strange Nazi obsession.”
A former employee of three years claimed that Ye often brought up Hitler and Nazis in casual conversations. “I feel like he was just kind of, like, looking around, like, seeing, like, how are people reacting?” the person said. “He would say, ‘I even love Hitler,’ and then he would, like, pause for reactions.”
The former employee alleged that Ye said Hitler “had some good qualities” and “wasn’t all bad.”
NBC News said it reviewed a settlement Ye made with a former employee who witnessed him praising Hitler or Nazis in meetings.
Reps for Ye did not respond to NBC News requests for comment.
Last week, CNN reported that an executive who worked with Ye accused him of having an “obsession” with Hitler and also received a settlement.
On an episode of his Higher Learning podcast last month, former TMZ producer Van Lathan recalled a 2018 TMZ Live interview in which Ye said he loved Hitler and Nazis. His comments were not published on the website and were cut from the video that was posted.
NBC News said three other former TMZ staffers recalled the same incident and two of them said when a Jewish producer confronted Ye about his comments, he smiled.
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Last month, Ye was widely criticized when he tweeted: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
The tweet was deleted for violating the platform’s policies.
Ye then apologized – sort of – for the comments.
In an conversation on Piers Morgan Uncensored, he was asked if he regretted writing “death con 3” (an apparent reference to the military condition “DEFCON”). Ye replied: “No, absolutely not.”
Ye seemingly played down the criticism. “God forbid one comment could cause people to feel any of the pain that my people have went though for years,” he said.
After being pressed by Morgan, the rap star offered a qualified apology.
“I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the ‘Death Con’ — the confusion that I caused,” he said. “I feel like I caused hurt and confusion. And I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through, and that I used my platform, where you say 'hurt people hurt people,' and I was hurt.”
Ye said he wanted to tell “those families that I hurt, I really wanna give you guys a big hug and I’m sorry for hurting you with my comments.”
Earlier, in an interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, Ye said: “I don’t like the term anti-Semitic. It’s been a term that has allowed people, specifically in my industry, to get away with murder – sometimes literally – and get away with robbing and doing bad.
“I don’t believe in that term. One thing is, Black people are also Jew. I classify as Jew also so I actually can’t be an anti-Semite so the term is not factual.”
Ye’s anti-Semitic comments have cost him his billionaire title after Adidas and Balenciaga cut ties. (He had previously lost his Gap deal due to unrelated issues.)
A rep for talent agency CAA confirmed to CNBC that Ye “is not a client” after Variety reported that he was dropped from the roster. According to The New York Times, Ye's label G.O.O.D. Music has been dropped from Def Jam (his own contract with Def Jam ended with 2021's Donda).
Production company MRC Studio said it has shelved a documentary film about Ye because it “cannot support any content that amplifies his platform.”
Trouble started brewing for Ye in early October when he sported a shirt emblazoned with "White Lives Matter," a phrase that has been used by white supremacist groups and denounced by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League. He responded to criticism by writing in an Instagram Story: “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now it’s over. You’re welcome.”
In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Ye said he thought the “White Lives Matter” shirt “was a funny shirt” and blamed the controversy on “a group mob” of “liberal Nazis.” He added: “They’re looking for an explanation — as an artist you don’t have to give an explanation but as a leader you do. So the answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is they do. It’s an obvious thing.”
In 2019, Ye explained that he becomes delusional if he doesn't take medication prescribed for the treatement of bipolar disorder. (In a recent conversation with MIT research scientist Lex Fridman, Ye said he was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder by a Jewish doctor as "a control mechanism.")
“You start acting erratic... When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more," he said on an episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. "You can become almost more adolescent in your expression.
"When you’re in this state, you're hyper-paranoid about everything ... You have this moment [where] you feel everyone wants to kill you. You pretty much don’t trust anyone."