The former billionaire hip-hop mogul who set global media ablaze last year with a multi-month spree of antisemitic and pro-Hitler statements apparently believed that his loud declarations of bigotry would propel him into the oval office.
In a new documentary from the BBC that aired Wednesday titled “The Trouble with KanYe,” Alex Klein offered new insights into why “Ye” (Kanye West) may have chosen his hateful path.
Klein had worked with Ye on the “Donda” album, creating the rapper’s “Stem Player.” After the loud defenses of the Nazis, Klein chose to end the professional relationship, prompting a reaction of rage. Klein said that, “Kanye was very angry” and that “He was saying, ‘I feel like I wanna smack you,’ and ‘You’re exactly like the other Jews’—almost relishing and reveling in how offensive he could be, using these phrases hoping to hurt me.”
Klein asked Ye in the conversation, “Do you really think Jews are working together to hold you back?”
The musician, currently estimated to be worth $410 million after once reaching wealth as high as $2.5 billion, responded, “Yes, yes, I do, but it’s not even a statement that I need to take back because look at all the energy around me right now. Without that statement, I wouldn’t become president.”
Former president Donald Trump, who infamously dined with Ye and the white-nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago resort in November 2022, is leading the Republican presidential contest with 52.4% support. His closest rival, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, trails at 21.5%.