Millions of people have viewed a new song by Kanye West, who goes by Ye, that glorifies Adolf Hitler and which some social-media platforms have banned.
Daniel Kelley, director of strategy and operations at the Anti-Defamation League and interim head of its Center for Technology and Society, told JNS that Ye is just one man. “But his crusade to normalize Nazi language will inflict real damage on our society,” Kelley said.
“Our culture is vulnerable to influencers who popularize hate,” he added.
YouTube and others removed the pro-Nazi song, but it has received a lot of attention on X, where Ye has more than 33 million followers.
“When phrases like ‘Heil Hitler’ are made more popular, our cultural safeguards or taboos against overt antisemitism crumble,” Kelley told JNS.
“Antisemitic incidents continue to break records,” he added. “Unfortunately, as our research shows, it is likely that this trend will only continue as Ye and other influencers make antisemitism acceptable.”
