Ye, previously often called Kanye West, has gone darkish in one other nook of the web amid his newest spherical of vitriolic, deliberately vile and antisemitic outbursts. This time, not by alternative.
E-commerce platform Shopify pulled the plug on the rapper’s efforts to promote hate-symbol merchandise, shutting down his Yeezy clothes web site. Earlier this week, the now-defunct web site was modified to promote just one merchandise: a $20 white T-shirt emblazoned with a black swastika.
The rapper and entrepreneur, who legally modified his title in 2021, marketed the web site throughout a cryptic business that aired throughout Tremendous Bowl LIX on Sunday. As of Tuesday morning, the web site shows error messages: “Something went wrong” and “This store is unavailable.”
A spokesperson for Shopify mentioned Tuesday in an announcement to The Occasions that retailers utilizing its platform should adhere to its guidelines and phrases of service. Yeezy.com “did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify,” the assertion mentioned.
The spokesperson didn’t instantly make clear which phrases Yeezy.com violated, however Shopify informs customers on its web site they can not interact in actions that “breach the social contract of commerce” and will not “call for, or threaten, violence against specific people or groups.”
Yeezy.com was central to Ye’s Tremendous Bowl advert and, on the time of airing, reportedly didn’t characteristic the hate image T-shirt however as an alternative different merchandise together with hoodies and socks. Selection reported Monday that Ye allegedly switched the location to showcase the swastika shirt inside an hour of the business airing in Los Angeles.
The business itself — a selfie video Ye seemingly recorded throughout a go to to the dentist — didn’t increase any flags earlier than it aired on three Fox-owned stations.
“It was such a small ad, I don’t think anyone put two and two together,” a supply advised Selection. “The copy was clean, the website was clean, and so they did their due diligence with that little part of it.”
Within the days main as much as the Tremendous Bowl, Ye defined on a podcast that he had been misdiagnosed with bipolar dysfunction. He additionally unleashed extra antisemitic and hateful remarks on X (previously Twitter).
Over the weekend, he used the social media platform, owned by Elon Musk, to declare himself a Nazi and categorical renewed reward for Adolf Hitler. He additionally referred to as for the discharge of disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who’s behind bars awaiting trial for alleged intercourse trafficking and conspiracy, and mentioned he has “dominion” over spouse Bianca Censori, whom he paraded primarily bare on the 2025 Grammys purple carpet.
The weekend rant wasn’t the primary time the “Heartless” Grammy winner made dangerous feedback towards the Jewish group and publicly embraced Nazism. He had confronted scrutiny and fell laborious from public grace in recent times for his antisemitic feedback — a variety of which he shared on X.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles raises contemporary claims about West’s enthusiasm for white supremacist rhetoric. The grievance, filed by a Jewish girl who mentioned she labored for West, alleges that within the office the rapper declared himself a Nazi and in contrast himself to Hitler.
Ye bowed out from X on Sunday after his attain was restricted by Musk, who declared the account NSFW “given what he has posted,” however shared a message praising the billionaire earlier than deactivating his account.
“I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent,” the controversial rapper tweeted. “It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”
Occasions workers author James Queally contributed to this report.