Rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has apologized for saying antisemitic comments in the past.
Ye took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal Monday, stating mental health challenges caused him to lose “touch with reality,” per The Hill.
The ad consisted of a letter, which started with “to those I’ve hurt,” followed by an explanation of his actions.
“Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain,” Ye, 48, wrote. He cited the 2002 incident that preceded his debut hit, “Through the Wire.”
“The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed,” he added, writing the “possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised.”
He was eventually diagnosed in 2023, the “medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.”
Ye said a bipolar disorder makes “you feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.”
In 2022, Ye said he “liked” Adolph Hitler.
Later that year, his X account was temporarily suspended after he posted he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
In December that year, he was again suspended after he posted an image of the Star of David containing a swastika inside.
In 2025, Shopify took down his online store that was linked to his website, where he was selling $20 T-shirts with large swastika symbols.
He explained in his ad why he was attracted to the swastika.
“In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika,” Ye wrote.
“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse that I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people,” he said.
“To the black community — which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times,” Ye added. “The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am sorry to have let you down. I love us.”
Ye said he hit “rock bottom a few months ago” and his wife, Bianca Censori, urged him to seek help.
Since then, he found an “effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living,” along with “much-needed clarity.”
“I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness,” he said.
Ye shares four children with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
“I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”
