Pete Davidson was ahead of the game in his appearance on a 2018 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment, where he discussed Kanye West’s support of Donald Trump and his emerging public right-wing ideals and proceeded to produce a red Trump-style baseball cap embroidered with the words Make Kanye 2006 Again.

The irony of it all is that Kanye wasn’t that great in 2006 either, he just got away with his outlandish comments and actions. In 2005, Kanye not only claimed that AIDS was a man-made disease placed in Africa, but also that George Bush, the president at the time, “hates Black people.” The former comment was made at a televised charity benefit for AIDS and the latter for Hurricane Katrina relief, something for which Bush had previously been criticized for not providing enough support.

Kanye has been dancing on thin ice since the beginning of his career, stomping cracks with every offensive outburst and public feud. For me, Kanye crashed through that ice back in 2009, when he stormed the stage at the VMA’s and publicly insulted Taylor Swift, telling her that she didn’t deserve the award she was accepted at the time. 

About a year ago, I got into an argument with one of my friends about my dislike of Kanye. He claimed that Kanye wasn’t really a bad person, despite the fact that he had at the time been publicly attacking his ex-wife and the mother of his children, Kim Kardashian. I think that we had different perspectives on the issue because where I saw Kanye’s deep history of offensive outbursts and deep-rooted misogyny, my friend saw petty A-list squabbles. However, Kanye’s recent outbursts are a clear indicator that this is not the case…

To give a quick timeline of Kanye’s recent downfall:

October 3, 2022: Kanye and right-wing commentator Candace Owens debuted Kanye’s “White Lives Matter” shirts at the Yeezy fashion show in Paris.

Oct 7: Kanye was banned from Instagram when he posted a screenshot where he said he was going to use Sean Combs “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me”—which the American Jewish Committee says invokes “tropes like greed and control” about Jewish people.

Oct 9: Kanye announces on Twitter that he’s going to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” [sic] and says he’s not being antisemitic because black people are Jewish too. He is then locked out of Twitter.

Oct 10: Kanye posts videos on youtube that include him showing porn to Adidas execs following the termination of his brand deals and contracts with various companies.

Oct 11: Kanye claimed that the term “Jew” refers to the “the 12 lost tribes of Judah . . . who the people known as the race Black really are”—a belief the Anti-Defamation League says stems from the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.

Oct 15: Kanye claimed that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose, then called Floyd’s family “greedy” after they threatened to sue him for the remark

Oct 17: Talks about the “Jewish underground media mafia” and says his “death con 3” [sic] remarks referred to when “Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership,” a form of “modern-day slavery.”

Oct 19: He called Joe Biden “f**king r**arded” for not taking advice from Elon Musk, and said he’s allowed to use the term because he has “mental health issues.”

Oct 31: Posts a screenshot on Instagram that says “I gotta get the Jewish business people to make the contracts fair Or die trying.”

Dec 1: Appears on Infowars, a notoriously bigoted and subjective conservative news organization famous for denial of the Sandy Hook  massacre in which 26 people died, including 20 victims between the ages of 6 and 7 years old, claiming that he “loves Jewish people,” and also “likes Nazis” and can see “good things about Hitler.”

Dec 2: Kanye is banned from Twitter for sharing an image for his “Ye ‘24” campaign that depicts a swastika inside of a Star of David.

The notion that Jews control Hollywood, banks, and other minorities are incredibly harmful and perpetuates subtle and not-so-subtle antisemitic behavior in the modern scope.

This isn’t the oppression olympics, Kanye. It’s not a competition over which group can oppress another group the most. The Holocaust didn’t just target Jews, it targeted any/every minority. 

We live in the age of cancel culture, internet sensitivity, and “chronically online” takes, where celebrities are being called out and “canceled” left and right. Celebrities and influencers have been canceled for something as little as wearing items of clothing from a specific brand or association with their significant other. However, there is an increasingly thin line between facing cancellation and being criminal. Kanye leaped across that line years ago. He’s not being “canceled” by “snowflakes.” Kanye, by definition, has committed a hate crime. Several times. And inspired others to do so as well. 

That is one of the most dangerous parts of the Kanye situation. Kanye West is an incredibly influential celebrity with a wide and dedicated fan base, a fan base that would have hopefully shrunk since October, but perhaps not. This fan base is responsible for some of the more hateful actions that have arisen from Kanye’s rash words on social media and in interviews.  Shortly after his anti-semitic Twitter tirade came to an end, an anti-semitic right-wing hate group draped a banner over the freeway in Los Angeles that read: “Kanye was right about the Jews.” The fact that it took literal Nazi propaganda, hate speech, and Hitler praise for people to finally kibosh their support of Kanye is astounding. Kanye has made so many blatantly offensive remarks, marketing moves, songs, and merchandise that promote hate. Each of these individual instances would’ve been enough to strike an influencer off the internet permanently. 

Kanye should have hit strike three years ago, but somehow blatant Nazi hate speech is the only thing that can knock him off his pedestal. 

If you’re still a fan of Kanye West— not just some of his music, the man himself- in 2023, might I suggest traveling back to 2006? You might be more comfortable there. Better yet, there are some people in the 1940s who would love to have you.