Kanye West vs Twitter: Exploring times when the rapper was banned

Kanye West’s Twitter (now X) account has been suspended twice, and here’s the timeline of what happened.

By Avnii Bagaria

Published on Aug 11, 2023 | 01:44 AM IST | 1M

Kanye West got banned from Twitter (now X) twice (Instagram)

Kanye West has been banned from Twitter (now X) twice after a string of increasingly obscene and vile anti-Semitic remarks. Following his car crash appearance on Alex Jones' InfoWars, the rapper, now known as Ye, posted a now-deleted graphic of a swastika over the Star of David. He then tweeted a photo of a half-naked Elon Musk with the caption, "Let's always remember this as my final tweet."

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Why was Kanye West’s Twitter (now X) account suspended?

Elon Musk, the social networks owner, appeared to have no little choice but to suspend West's account when he tweeted a graphic picturing a Nazi insignia inside a Star of David, a Jewish holy symbol.

Musk tweeted in response to a Twitter user's plea to fix West’s account, also known as Ye. He wrote, "I did my best. Despite this, he broke our rule against incitement to violence once more."

Kanye even shared screenshots of a private chat that he had with Musk on Twitter before his account was terminated. "Sorry, but you have gone too far," Musk said in the message. To which West responded, "This is not true love. Who made you the judge?"

West's Twitter account was just reinstated in December after it was suspended in October for anti-Semitic statements. Musk offered a general amnesty for suspended accounts shortly before the reinstatement.

Kanye has made a number of anti-Semitic comments in the past, which have cost him major business collaborations, including Adidas and fashion label Balenciaga.

Here's a chronology of West's precipitous decline:

Paris Fashion Week: October 3rd, 2022

Kanye West, now known as Ye, wore a t-shirt with the White Lives Matter message to his Yeezy SZN 9 event. Anti-racism activists condemned it as hate speech because it was insulting to the Black Lives Matter movement. Even a photo of Kanye posing in a matching outfit with conservative commentator Candace Owens went viral. As it didn’t sit well with the fans and other artists, they started calling him out.

Instagram locked him out on October 7th

Kanye got into an argument with rapper Diddy, who posted a video criticizing the White Lives Matter t-shirts. However, Kanye West appeared to indicate in an Instagram post that Diddy was under Jewish domination. Immediately, Ye's account was suspended, and he was accused of antisemitism.

Twitter locked him for 48 hours on October 10

Kanye West, who hadn't tweeted in nearly two years, returned to Twitter (now X) and took aim at Mark Zuckerberg, who is the CEO of Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, he even sent out a tweet that appeared to be a threat to Jews. Twitter (now X) followed Instagram's example and banned him.

Interview with Tucker Carlson on October 11th

Vice obtained previously unseen footage from an interview with Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. The unseen footage from the show showed the rapper making different antisemitic accusations and repeating stereotypes about Jews. An episode of Kanye West's YouTube chat program The Shop: Uninterrupted had been pulled over due to his alleged usage of hate speech. However, at the time the interview was deleted, those who share his illness told the BBC that mental health issues do not correlate with antisemitism.

Brands turn a blind eye—end of October

Kanye had a tough week as major corporations revealed they no longer wanted to collaborate with him. Balenciaga and talent scouts at Creative Artists Agency had joined JP Morgan and Gap in abandoning the artist. Meanwhile, Adidas was under increasing pressure to follow suit.

Kanye West bid goodbye to Adidas and billionaire status

Adidas announced Kanye West's departure on October 25. Adidas incurred a net loss of £217 million when the deal was terminated in 2022. But it was a great blow for Kanye, who expected to earn $1.5 billion from his contract with the sportswear behemoth. According to Forbes, he is no longer a billionaire and has a net worth of $400 million.

Sketchy scenario: October 27th

Skechers, an American shoe business, claimed that Kanye showed up at their offices unannounced and uninvited and had to be evacuated. It stated that they had no plans to collaborate with him and opposed his earlier remarks.

Adidas scandal, November 22nd

The US magazine Rolling Stone released a lengthy article alleging West engaged in toxic behavior toward Adidas staff. It declined to comment for the feature but announced two days later that an investigation into the claims had begun.

Ye 24 Campaign: November 25th

Kanye West declared his intention to run for President of the United States in 2024. Prior to this, stories circulated of him dining with far-right political analyst Nick Fuentes at Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago golf club in Florida.

December: Infowars and another Twitter ban

Kanye was a guest on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars show. Throughout the interview, he wore a face mask that glorified Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and screamed about sin, pornography, and the devil. He was removed from Twitter again hours after the broadcast for violating the rule against incitement to violence.

What comes next for Kanye West?

West is notoriously unpredictable, so this is unlikely to be the end of the tale. His music remains popular, and he has appeared in fans' annual Spotify Wrapped and Apple Replay playlists. However, there have been reports of some users requesting that the streaming giants remove his songs. Fans have previously warned Newsbeat that they may skip his music, so only time will tell if he remains in our top tracks.

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