The GOP Tweeted Its Praise for Kanye 56 Days Ago. Here’s Everything That Happened Since

kanye-west-GOP-tweet.jpg “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold” Premiere Screening – Credit: Jason Davis/Getty Images

From post to deletion took 56 days — and the rapper’s declaration of love for Nazis.

It was early October, and Kanye West was fresh off an appearance at Paris fashion week, where he appeared with the conservative troll Candace Owens, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter.” 

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In a fit of admiration on Oct. 6, the Twitter account for the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee posted a three-word salute to their right-wing heroes: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.”

gop judiciary tweet kanye elon trump

The tweet was not out of character for the @JudiciaryGOP account, which mirrors ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan’s preference for culture-war antics over serious policymaking. But the tweet was remarkably ill-timed.

Kanye, or Ye, soon lurched into brazen antisemitic media blitz. The vile sentiments were enough for Ye to get canceled by business associates, and even booted by Adidas, which jettisoned the Yeezy brand, worth hundreds of millions. But @JudiciaryGOP stuck by their man, for free. (Perhaps Jordan & Co. didn’t want to be seen as participating in “cancel culture” — which @JudiciaryGOP has railed against across nearly a dozen tweets, including by making repeated calls for congressional hearings on the phenomenon.) Only after Ye appeared on Alex Jones’ InfoWars on Thursday to deny the Holocaust while proclaiming his admiration for Hitler did the right-wing rapper finally cross a line for the GOP committee.

Below is a rundown of the hate-filled ride Ye has been on between the @JudiciaryGOP’s initial tweet and the moment the account, controlled by the likely incoming chair of the Judiciary Committee, finally decided to delete it and distance itself from the world-famous antisemite.

Oct. 3: Ye appears at Paris fashion week wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt alongside Daily Wire commentator Candace Owens. Models at his Yeezy show walk the runway wearing “White Lives Matter” shirts.

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Oct. 6: In the midst of the backlash, the Twitter account of the GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee tweets out a triumvirate of right-wing heroes: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” The account is run by the staff of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Oct. 6: Ye appears on Tucker Carlson’s show and claims the “White Lives Matter” shirts were “a gut instinct, a connection to God and just brilliance.” During the extended interview, Ye attacked the Kushner family and teased a potential presidential run.

Oct. 7: Ye posts screenshots of text exchanges from concerned friends and family on his Instagram. In one exchange, Ye suggests to Diddy that he is being controlled by Jewish people, telling the fellow rapper that he will use him “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war.” Instagram suspends Ye’s account, leading him to move his communication to Twitter.

Oct. 8: Ye tweets that he is “a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” Twitter suspends his account.

Oct. 10: Page Six reports that Ye showed executives at Adidas pornographic footage during a business meeting. In the interaction, which was recorded and uploaded to YouTube, Ye shows his phone to several gathered individuals. “Is this a porn movie?” one asks. “Jesus Christ,” says another.

Oct. 11: Maverick Carter, who hosts HBO’s The Shop alongside LeBron James, reveals to Andscape that a recently taped episode with Ye was shelved and would not air after the rapper allegedly continued to make antisemitic statements throughout filming.

Oct. 11: Vice News reveals that Fox News heavily edited Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ye to exclude various antisemitic statements made by the rapper. At one point, Ye tells Carlson he would “prefer his kids knew Hanukkah before Kwanzaa” because “it will come with some financial engineering.”

Oct. 13: Ye attends the premiere of the Daily Wire film The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd And The Rise Of BLM alongside its director, writer, and star Candace Owens. The conspiratorial feature contends that George Floyd was not killed by the actions of police officer Derek Chauvin, as confirmed by multiple autopsies, but rather by a drug overdose. Chauvin was found guilty of murder last April.

Oct. 16: Ye appears on the podcast Drink Champs where he made disparaging comments about George Floyd, blaming his death on drugs instead of police violence. “If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.” He also blamed “Jewish Zionists” for stories about how his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson liked to have sex by the fireplace. Ye also rebuffed a suggestion that he visit the Holocaust Musem, retorting that Planned Parenthood is the Black version of a Holocaust Museum.

Oct. 16: A controversial Ye associate hands out “White Lives Matter” shirts to houseless individuals on LA’s Skid Row.

Oct. 17: Ye announces intention to buy the right-wing social media site Parler. The social media website billed as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter is headed by CEO George Farmer, husband to Daily Wire commentator Candace Owens. “Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again,” Farmer said in a statement released by Parler. “Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative.” (After Ye declared his love for Nazis, Parler confirmed the deal was called off.)

Oct. 17: Ye tells Chris Cuomo in a News Nation appearance that he doesn’t “believe in” antisemitism. Ye said that “there’s so many Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels, and those Jewish record labels take ownership, not only of the publishing … but also ownership of the culture itself … It’s like modern-day slavery.”

Oct. 19:  In a wild interview with Piers Morgan in which he said President Biden was “fucking retarded” for not meeting with Elon Musk, Ye said he “absolutely” did not regret his “death con 3” tweet.

Oct. 21: Vogue cuts ties with Ye. So does Baleciaga.

Oct. 23: In a sign of Ye’s hateful influence, white supremacists unfurl a banner over a Los Angeles highway reading: “Kanye is right about the Jews.” 

Oct. 25: Adidas cuts ties with Ye, declaring “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.” In light of what it called Ye’s “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” rhetoric, the company announces it would immediately “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye,” warning investors it would take up to a 250 million euro-hit to the business in the fourth quarter. Ye loses status as billionaire, per Forbes.

Oct. 26: Following the Adidas breakup, Ye reportedly shows up at shoe rival Skechers’ headquarters “unannounced and uninvited.” He is escorted out.

Oct. 28: Apple music quietly pulls its featured Ye playlists from the platform.

Oct. 28: Speaking to a gaggle of paparazzo, Ye apologizes to George Floyd’s family, which announced on Oct. 18 that they intended to sue the rapper for defamation. “When I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people,” he said. After apologizing, Ye compared himself to Floyd, telling the gathered press that “by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now.”

Oct. 29: The Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald and Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown announce they will no longer work with Donda Sports Academy. 

Oct. 31: Ye receives a 30-day suspension from Instagram. He posts more offensive content to Parler, including a text exchange with Russell Simmons in which Simmons suggests Ye rebuild his business abroad, to which Ye responded: “I’m staying in America. I gotta get the Jewish business people to make the contracts fair. Or die trying.”

Nov. 1: Fans launch a campaign via GoFundMe to restore Ye’s billionaire status following his endorsement and commercial losses. The campaign has raised $57,398 of its $53 million goal.

Nov. 2: NBC News reports that in 2018 Ye paid a settlement to an anonymous former employee who alleged Ye had praised Hitler or Nazis on various occasions. Ye denied such statements had ever taken place. Six sources who spoke to NBC reported having heard Ye make conspiratorial claims about Jewish people and praise Nazi dictator Adolf Hilter. Three of the sources recalled one such rant taking place at TMZ’s office.

Nov. 20: Elon Musk reinstates Ye to Twitter. He tweets “Shalom : ).”

Nov. 22: A Rolling Stone report reveals Ye ruled Yeezy with fear, manipulation, and social dominance. His outrageous behavior — “He showed me the video of Francesca Le, a buff porn star with a strap-on dildo fucking another girl in the ass,” according to one former collaborator — had raised alarms for years at Adidas, but according to one exec, the company “turned their moral compass off.”

Nov. 25: Donald Trump dines at Mar-a-Lago with Ye, who is accompanied by the politically toxic white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

Nov. 26: Trump calls Ye “seriously troubled” on Truth Social.

Nov. 28: Ye storms off the podcast of right-winger Tim Pool after the host mildly pushes back on his antisemitic claims that Jews control the media and that his career was ruined by a Jewish conspiracy. Before he left, Ye said: “I’m going to walk the fuck off the show if I’m having to talk about, ‘You can’t say Jewish people did it,’ when every sensible person knows — that Jon Stewart knows — what happened to me, and they took it too far.”

Dec. 1: Ye praises Hitler and denies the Holocaust in an appearance on the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars. “I love Nazis,” Ye insisted. In extended hateful remarks, Ye touted Hitler for creating highway and microphones, adding there was good in everyone, “especially Hitler.”

@JudiciaryGOP quietly deletes its tweet praising Kanye.

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