The antisemitic rapper Kanye West, who goes by Ye, appeared to apologize for his Jew-hatred to Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a rabbi and kabbalist who served time in Israel for bribery.
The rapper made a “groveling” apology and said he would take “accountability” for his antisemitism, the New York Post reported.
“I feel really blessed to be able to sit here with you today and just take accountability,” he reportedly told the rabbi, via a translator. “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 myself.”
In video footage spread on social media, the rabbi embraced Ye, who had compared his mental illness to leaving a child alone in the house, which the child trashes. Throughout Ye’s apparent apology, he and the rabbi held hands.
Ye wanted me to share this with yall 💛💛 pic.twitter.com/CzSTPeP9mO
— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) November 6, 2025
In the past, the rapper has written that he was going “death con 3 on Jewish people,” for which his social media handles were locked, and he has praised Adolf Hitler, including in a song that he released in May.
Later that month, he wrote that he was “done with antisemitism” and that “I love all people. God forgive me for the pain I’ve caused.”
The rabbi told Ye that “Judaism lives on teshuvah,” repentance.
The rapper Nicki Minaj wrote to her 27.4 million followers that she was “so happy” to see Ye “publicly take accountability for the pain his words may have caused to so many,” adding that she was “standing with our Jewish brothers and sisters.”
The rabbi and kabbalist posted photos in July of what he said was a meeting with and a blessing for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
