Kanye West's Fans Struggle to Defend Him Amid Continued 'Self-Destruction'

While Kanye West's antisemitism scandal has led to major business losses for the star, his devoted fans have also found themselves in a difficult position.

The beleaguered rapper, who has legally changed his name to Ye, kicked off his month of controversy at his October 3 Yeezy fashion show in Paris. He appeared wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words "White Lives Matter," a slogan commonly used by white supremacists as well as opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Amid the backlash, West shared a screenshot of what appeared to be a text message exchange with Sean "Diddy" Combs, in which he responded to the rap mogul's objection to his stunt by saying he would "show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me."

After West's since-removed post led to his Instagram account being restricted, the musician continued sharing his thoughts on Twitter, where he said that he was "going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."

The antisemitic statements led to Ye being locked out of his Instagram and Twitter accounts, but he made similar remarks in subsequent interviews, prompting a number of businesses to cut ties with him.

Sportswear giant Adidas, which had worked with Ye on his Yeezy sneaker collections since 2015, also announced on Tuesday that it was immediately severing ties with the star, bringing to an end his most valuable business relationship.

Ye—whose California school, Donda Academy, was suddenly closed this week without explanation—subsequently saw his net worth plummet from $2 billion to $400 million in a matter of a day, per Forbes.

While it is widely accepted that Ye was an architect in his own downfall, Chris Lambert, co-host and co-founder of the top-rated Ye-themed podcast Watching the Throne, told Newsweek that the star's many recent interviews have provided polarizing ammunition for both his detractors and defenders.

"It's been one of the weirdest times I can remember in the seven years I've covered Ye," he said. "That's because of the slew of interviews, many of which are multiple hours.

"Because these interviews are chopped up, clipped out, and selectively posted by different groups and individuals, it's created an entirely fractured perspective on Ye. I see people post the same 5-minute clip where he makes a thoughtful point, or apologizes in a thoughtful way, or is charming and humorous, and the response is positive. People defend him because of the clip.

"While others post another 5-minute clip where he makes a point that's hateful, factually incorrect, and hypocritical, and the response is outrage. People denounce him because of the clip. And then the two sides argue over which clip is more valid."

"Do you accept the positive one and reject the negative? Or accept the negative and reject the positive?" Lambert continued. "I've honestly never seen anything like this. It's made it so people can't even find common ground on the conversation because their perceptions of Ye are based on entirely different sources of information.

"How do you explain the anger to someone who has only seen or accepted the positive perception? How do you defend the nuance of the conversation to someone who has only seen or accepted the negative reception?

"So, yes, it has been difficult to defend. Not only because I completely disagree with the use and defense of hate speech but because the internet continues to divide information and reality into a million pieces."

Though Lambert says that Ye's fans are in the midst of unprecedented times, he points out that the musician and fashion designer has displayed a similar pattern of behavior on other subjects in the past.

"Historically, Ye's stirred up controversy by an initial statement, then evolved the statement over days and weeks and months to the point where people pretty much get where he was coming from but don't like how we got there," said Lambert. "Except previous controversies didn't involve hate speech.

"In comparison, they had little effect on people because they weren't targeting anyone. This is and does. So it doesn't really matter to me if he's being misunderstood or not, because he's still saying what he's saying, and it's harmful. Not in a sense of 'It hurts my feelings.' But in the sense of, 'This could cause legitimate, unwarranted hatred for someone because of what they are rather than who they are.'"

While Lambert does not stand by Ye's latest statements, he believes that "if the world succeeds in canceling him, we've lost arguably the most impactful artist of the 21st century, who had the capacity to do so much more.

"Unfortunately, Ye's potential for greatness is limited only by his penchant for self-destruction. If Ye has a 'Road to Damascus' moment and completely changes his rhetoric, he's still galvanized a new wave of antisemitism that will affect people for who knows how long and to what degree. I don't think there's a positive outcome at this point, just some that are less sad than others."

Newsweek has reached out to a representative of Ye for comment.