Kanye West Apologizes for Antisemitic Comments

Rapper Kanye West — who released a song praising Adolf Hitler earlier this year — made a groveling apology to a New York City rabbi and said he is taking “accountability” for his bizarre antisemitic streak, which he blamed on mental illness.

West, who now goes by Ye, told prominent celebrity Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto on Tuesday he had “profound remorse” for his laundry list of antisemitic remarks that triggered global outrage and cost him major business partnerships, video shared on social media shows.

“I feel really blessed to be able to sit here with you today and just take accountability,” West told the rabbi. “I was dealing with some various issues of bipolar, so it would take the ideas I had and have me take them to an extreme where I would forget about the protection of the people around me or and myself.

“So I wanted to come and take accountability … Sometimes people aren’t that knowledgeable about bipolar and the cause, or what causes it, and the way you act when you have this disease,” he added.

Ye likened his mental illness to a misbehaving child destroying their home while their parents were away.

“Now, when you get back, it’s your responsibility because that’s your child.”

Pinto, through a translator, called West a “very good man” and hugged the rapper, the clip shows.

“A person is not defined by his mistakes, but by the way he chooses to correct them,” Pinto said in a statement online. “This is the true strength of man: The ability to return, to learn, and to build bridges of love and peace.”

It’s not clear how Ye met Pinto, a Kabbalist whose devotees include real estate big shots, members of Congress and even NBA star LeBron James, who held his hand at a Jewish wedding in 2022, according to the Times of Israel.

Pinto served one year in prison in Israel after he was convicted of bribery and obstruction of justice.

He bribed Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha, who committed suicide after he reported the rabbi to authorities following defamation accusations from Pinto’s supporters.

Ye’s public controversial statements began in 2022 when he threatened to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” on social media, followed by a series of strange interviews in which he praised Hitler and spouted conspiracy claims about Jews controlling US media and finance.

Ye’s antisemitic posts and comments continued in subsequent years, and he often downplayed the Holocaust.

He bafflingly released a song titled “Heil Hitler” in May 2025 and sold T-shirts bearing huge swastikas on the front.

Just two weeks after the song’s release, he claimed he was “done with antisemitism.”

“I love all people. God forgive me for the pain I’ve caused. I forgive those who have caused me pain. Thank you God,” he said at the time.

This is not the first or even second time Ye has claimed to be cured of his hatred for Jewish people.

In 2023, he claimed that Jewish actor Jonah Hill’s performance in the buddy-cop comedy “21 Jump Street” made him “like Jewish people again.”

“No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred for millions of innocent people,” he posted after returning to social media after a temporary ban for his antisemitic rants.

“No Christian can be labeled an antisemite knowing Jesus is a Jew.”