How many people alive today had dinner with the president, are proud friends with Andrew Tate, get their songs banned on all streaming platforms, and sent their wife to the Grammys naked? Just one: Kanye West.
While he’s best known for his popular songs such as “Runaway,” “Carnival,” and “Heartless,” he’s also known for using his brand to sell a clothing line with a swastika on it, being openly anti-Semitic on podcasts and interviews, and traveling with like-minded anti-Semites and white supremacists.
However, people are still adamant about listening to West’s music, arguing that his music is the only thing that matters. West’s actions have raised a larger question: can we truly ‘separate the art from the artist?’
US Guidance Counselor Brian Wiley has listened to West since he was young. Regarding his thoughts on West’s more recent rampages on X, he said, “What are you doing? What happened? Like, the uplifting messages and, I mean, not all music was positive back then, you know, but it didn’t bring a group of people down.”
In October 2022, West had what would be known as a “round one.” On both of his official accounts on Instagram and X, West said a multitude of things, including, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight, but when I wake up I’m going [DEFCON] 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jews also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone who ever opposes your agenda.”
If you found that hard to read, so did I.
West went silent on X until February 7, 2025, when he went on an anti-Semitic, racist, misogynistic, and incomprehensible rant, including “DOMINION OVER MY WIFE,” in all caps, referring to his spouse, Bianca Censori, an Australian architect.
On the night of the 2025 Grammys, Censori appeared on the red carpet in a floor-length black fur coat and a nude mesh dress underneath. Censori looked uncomfortable taking the coat off, and the two were seen arguing before they stepped onto the carpet.
This is a repeated pattern between West and his past partners. West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, also seemed to have changed her style while married to West. Her outfits have changed drastically since their separation.
Recently, though, Censori has come out to the public saying that she and West separated in early February due to his rants, but they’ve talked and are trying to heal their relationship.
All of these things are unfolding in real time so quickly that it’s hard to include just how many things get unveiled every single day.
West makes wild choices so often that it’s hard to keep up, including the terrible company he keeps, from Andrew Tate to Nick Fuentes, a known white supremacist. Not to mention having these people over when his 11-year-old daughter, North West, is in the same home.
Kanye’s behavior isn’t only dehumanizing an entire religion, but this downward spiral is starting to affect his home life and his relationship with his children.
At the end of the day, West’s actions weren’t an isolated incident. So, now, let’s return to the question: should we separate artists from their art?
In the digital age, music is everywhere. Social media, movies, streaming platforms; you can’t escape it. By listening to any artist’s music, you support them financially. So, how do we escape it? The simple answer is, you can’t.
It’s easy to accidentally listen to a Kanye song without realizing it, perhaps when a great artist collaborates with him, or one of his songs pops up on TikTok. Either way, it’s virtually impossible to fully separate the art from the artist. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.
“What if the creator of cars was really racist or anti-Semitic? Would you just stop driving cars altogether?” said a freshman who has been listening to Kanye for a long time and believes that just because West’s recent actions are bad, it doesn’t make his music any less influential.
Although they make a good point, there’s a difference between the manufacturing of a utilitarian product and the creation of art. Do we need West’s music when he says things like “Racist stereotypes exist for a reason and they all be true?” Or that he doesn’t trust any Jewish person, when some of his closest friends are Jewish?
On March 26, 2025, West dropped his single “WW3,” which was criticized for its anti-Semitic lyrics, including referencing his admiration of Mein Kampf, or My Struggle in English, better known as Adolf Hitler’s manifesto.
On March 30, just four days after “WW3” was released, DNA radio interviewed West. Upon answering the door, you see in the center of his chest a giant swastika hanging off a chain. Within a few minutes, West left the room and came back in an all-black outfit resembling the infamous white robes of the KKK.
Not only this, but on April 3, West released the cover for his new album, also called Cuck, depicting two individuals wearing red and white KKK-inspired outfits hugging in front of a stack of hay bales.
Some of the confirmed song titles in the album include “Heil Hitler,” “Bianca,” (his ex-wife’s name), “Free Diddy,” and “Nitrous” (a reference to his addiction).
He also confirmed that all of these songs were written and co-produced by Dave Blunts, another American rapper and song producer.
Another one of these songs, “COUSINS,” was released on Monday, April 21. On the same day of the release, West wrote the following on X: “Perhaps in my self-centered mess, I felt it was my fault that I showed him those dirty magazines when he was 6 and then we acted out what we saw,” admitting that West and his cousin, both around the same age, committed incest. Later in the tweet, he confirmed it was until he was 14.
Once again, on May 8, 2025, West released his song called “Heil Hitler”, as previously stated. Although only 3 of the songs on his new album have been released, his public image continues to plummet. In just less than week from the release, the song is now illegal in Germany, banned on all streaming platforms, and is only available on X, where it is getting millions of views.
These aren’t just controversial opinions and actions; they’re harmful and deeply offensive, as his actions continually perpetuate hate. Unlike cars, which serve a practical function in everyday life, music is a choice, one that reflects our values and what we choose to believe. Maybe the real question isn’t whether we need Kanye’s music, but whether we should keep giving him our attention at all.