“I am Not a Nazi or an Antisemite. I Love Jewish People.” Kanye West Takes Out Full Page Ad To Apologize.

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Monday, January twenty sixth, and Yay, the artist formerly known as Kanye West has taken out a full page Maya Kulpa, pleading with the public to forgive him for all of those controversies, all of those hurtful and hateful words over the past several years, and also pointing directly to a medical issue that caused him to behave that way. Welcome everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. This is going to be a difficult one for people to deal with because I take it very sincerely is how it came off. But it's a lot to overcome. A lot of what he said.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: Yes, it seems very sincere and heartfelt. He's got a couple of issues. It's hard to undo hurtful things you've said that you've put in print. But also the timing. He has a problem with the timing of this apology, this full page add that he took out.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to get into that. And again, it came out today Wall Street Journal, a full page ad that's out. And what we're gonna do here, folks, is we're going to go through it line by line. It is long it will take a second to read it to you, but we are. We're just going to take in line by line here and then we'll do a little more I guess, breaking down at the end of it. But a lot of folks will remember, I guess it's been a decade plus. It seemed like Robes. He has been a social pariah, and not just a matter of some erratic behavior. We used to maybe a celebrity getting the dui or getting arrested here or there. No, he has said, as a reminder here of Ropes, some pretty horrific things in support of Hitler selling stuff online with swastikas on it. We're talking about some pretty horrific.

00:01:48
Speaker 2: He has a song that's literally called entitled hyl Hitler that's been banned in Germany. So, yes, this wasn't a mistake or he misspoke, or he said something he shouldn't have or posted something out of anger. He has had a series of missteps of behavior that have pointed to anti Semitic behavior certainly just hateful speech in general.

00:02:14
Speaker 1: All right, and we as we know, he lost almost everything, I want to say everything, at least endorsements and whatnot, not talking about what money he might have in the bank, but he lost. Adidas was a very, very big one and very high profile, but everybody ran from him, including a lot of celebrities who had been standing up for him and standing next to him. But this is what he wrote, and it started with this to those I've hurt. Twenty five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage, the fracture of the swelling and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.

00:02:53
Speaker 2: He goes on to say comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal lobe injury was never raised. It was not properly diagnosed until twenty twenty three. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type one diagnosis.

00:03:15
Speaker 1: He continues, Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system denial. When your manic, you don't think you're sick, you think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you're seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you're losing your grip entirely.

00:03:32
Speaker 2: Once people label you as crazy, you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It is easy for people to joke and laugh it off, when in fact this is a very serious, debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by ten to fifteen years on average, and a two time to three time higher all cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type one, diabetes, HIV, and cancer, all lethal and fatal if left untreated.

00:04:09
Speaker 1: The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you you don't need help. It makes you blind but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable.

00:04:22
Speaker 2: I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most I treated the worst. You endure fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was at times unrecognizable looking back. I became detached from my true self.

00:04:46
Speaker 1: In that fractured state. He goes on to say, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type one are the disconnected moments, many of which I still cannot recall, that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out of body experience. I regret, and I'm deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and I'm committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did. I am not a Nazi or an anti Semite. I love Jewish people.

00:05:22
Speaker 2: To the Black community, Ya writes, which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The Black community is unquestionably the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us an here.

00:05:40
Speaker 1: In early Excuse Me. In early twenty twenty five, he writes, I fell into a four month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable. There were times I didn't want to be here anymore.

00:05:57
Speaker 2: Having bipolar disorder is not state of constant mental illness. When you go into a manic episode, you are ill. At that point, when you are not in an episode, you are completely normal, and that's when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest, hitting rock bottom. A few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.

00:06:19
Speaker 1: I have found comfort in Reddit forums, of all places, different people speaking of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It's not just me who ruins their entire life once a year. Despite taking meds every day and being told by the so called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar but merely experiencing symptoms of autism.

00:06:46
Speaker 2: My words as a leader in my community have global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete side of that. As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living, I have new found much needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art, music, clothing design, and other new ideas to help the world.

00:07:13
Speaker 1: I'm not asking for sympathy, as he writes. In closing, he says, I'm not writing for sympathy or asking for a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patients and understanding as I find my way home with love. Yeay your impression reading it the first time.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: My impression reading it the first time was wow, And that was very vulnerable, and it felt like a relief to know that he's getting help, because obviously I would just say anybody who has the platform he has, who has the genius that he has, I mean, his music is remarkable, it speaks for himself. But for him to have literally self destructed and what he did and what he's been doing over the last several years has absolutely been nothing short of self destructive. So to see that and to read that, I kind of thought, Yay, good, I'm glad he's getting help. I'm glad he's recognizing that he needs help. That's a positive step.

00:08:17
Speaker 1: Did he need to do this? Could he have gotten that help without letting us all know? And does it matter one way or another?

00:08:23
Speaker 2: I think an apology always matters. How about you? What was your impression.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: I was surprised to have it come out, and I was relieved that it did because many of folks everybody has, but certainly me, plenty of folks grew up to a certain degree. Actually, even if we didn't grow up with the music, we saw him grow up in his career, and that song Through the Wire put him on the map of superstardom, rapping about the experience through a wired jaw after that accident that he's here talking about. Where if we have watched him over the years and it didn't make sense, something wasn't right. I can say this out loud, but you can never question because you don't know what's going on. His behavior wasn't right. He's not okay, and we don't know what's wrong. And a lot of people say that changed after his mom died. But at the same time, he's explaining this in a way. And when we talk about bipolarism, we talk about mania. People being in a manic state. They feel invincible. They don't. This is what the doctors tell you. Invincibility is a trait of this thing. So to hear this, it's almost a relief to go Okay, he doesn't believe that stuff. It made no sense for him to all of a sudden like swastikus.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: It made no sense. And look, you look. I know that Kim Kardashian has been careful in what she said, because obviously she is the mother of his four children. They divorced in twenty twenty two, I believe, But even from her it seemed as though there was she was frustrated, but I felt like there was sympathy there that she knew he was not well, She knew he was not himself. She knew that something was going on. And I also thought it was so interesting to eat and hear someone like Kanye West, who's on top of the world, who's one of the biggest best rap artists of all time, to say he found solace in a Reddit. For him to know he wasn't alone, that speaks to the desperation. You know, so many people know how that feels, when something's wrong with you and you don't know what it is, and then suddenly you feel like you're not the only one, and suddenly you feel like maybe there is help, maybe there is a way. I thought that was so fascinating that he even felt that way about recognizing that he wasn't fighting this by himself, that this is something that is diagnosable and maybe hopefully something that's treatable, but.

00:10:39
Speaker 1: Where it's his. It's fascinating because you think about one of the biggest global superstars that we've seen in our lifetime sitting up on Reddit trying to find help and trying to find community. Where else do you find it? It's not necessarily an open community for bipolarism, right, it's so where do you go? Who do you turn to? And seen in public? And we do this oftentimes and countless jokes have been told about this guy, and maybe we can say it's warranted because Ropes, we're not just talking about random stuff. He is talking about like a love of Hitler, a black kid that grew up in Chicago, all of a sudden made it to superstart him with the help of the black community, and all of a sudden, he loves Hitler. It didn't make sense, and so I was looking, we were all looking for something to justify and it's not an attention grab. That didn't make sense. Right, He's already got attention. We already know who he is. He doesn't need to try to sell something? What is he doing? And so robes This might be the best explanation I have heard yet.

00:11:47
Speaker 2: Yes, I think from him the only thing that is that. And you can go online and see and we can talk about this. It's just the time he has an album coming out on Friday. So many people are saying, hey, this is the timing is why? Now? Why after all this time are you coming forward? Now? Are you apologizing?

00:12:05
Speaker 1: Now?

00:12:05
Speaker 2: Are you taking out this full page ad? Now?

00:12:08
Speaker 1: Fine? Fair, fine, knock yourself out. All of that can and should. Timing is always a part of these things, is it not? But that was a long thought out I don't know who helped write it. I don't know what his medical his regimen is right now, but that is a start. I agree, it's a start.

00:12:34
Speaker 2: I agree. And you know what, you don't have to buy his album. You don't have to listen to his music. You don't, and that's fine. But I always appreciate an apology. I think if you are just a human being and you've been through shit in your life, you appreciate someone who is being vulnerable, who is admitting wrong, who is looking for answers and how he can do better. I appreciate that as a human being. I think it's a wonderful thing to see that you can be at rock bottom, that you can say horrific things, that you can do horrific things, and you can say I'm sorry and then start to find answers as to why. And that is something all of us can take and look at. Take the skepticism out of it, take the always just doing this for that out of it. This is actually, I think, a very positive thing that happened.

00:13:26
Speaker 1: All right, Well, folks, stay here more about this upcoming album that Robes just mentioned and the comparison to another high profile celebrity that we saw destruct right before our eyes. Stay here. We continue here on a by and TJ. Kanye West, now officially the name is a Ya did change it, but yay. The artist formerly known as Kanye West, has issued a full page May A couple of Wall Street Journal apologizing for many of his antics, his behavior and yes, promoting Hitler, promoting Swastika's, promoting anti Semitism. He's apologizing for all of that over the years. I didn't ask you this ahead of time, Robes. I don't know how I I never stopped and consider it when it came to Kanye West music. I'm not sure last time he put new stuff out, but he was one of the artists over the years that I just hear he has a new album and I just buy it. Oh yeah, I don't need to hear a track or two first and make sure I like it. I just buy it. He's one of those artists. I mean, what is the feeling about purchasing a Kanye West album? People can have different opinions about it, but look, where do you land on that? Really? Look?

00:14:40
Speaker 2: You and I have had this conversation plenty of times about separating the art from the artist. I some of my favorite artists, even actors, musicians, whatever they have as the years have gone on, had storied pasts and made bad decisions. I can still appreciate the music and the art. I'm one of those people who can operate it. I love Kanye West's music. I run to it all the time. I will listen to this new album and I'm somebody I just I believe that people deserve second chances, and I think that when you see someone who has made a decision to put out an apology like this, it's worth listening to and it's worth giving somebody a chance, and it doesn't hurt anyone to say, let's see what happens, and what happens if you support somebody who has acknowledged wrongdoing. And look, I'm curious what you think about this, that ad that he took out today in the Wall Street Journal. We don't know exactly how much he paid for it, but they say a full ad like that is between five and six figures. This is no small amount of money that goes to pay for something like this. He could have just as easily put this out on social media. He could have done a video where he read it to camera. He could have done things for free and just put it out and said the same things. I'm curious what you think about his decision to pay for it, to actually take out an ad and put it in print in the Wall Street Journal. That was a decision.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: I guess no matter where it goes, it was going to make the rounds. I don't know if something about it that felt more official, It felt like it was elevated in some way to not just a matter of which newspaper he put it in. I mean, the Wall Street Journal is prestigious, but it was just a matter of it. Else you put yeah, you can, we can all go to your Instagram stories and scans.

00:16:32
Speaker 2: Getting get picked up everywhere.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: Something about the way he did it just elevated and there was a serious nus to it.

00:16:39
Speaker 2: I thought, I agree as exactly because I started thinking, like, wait a minute, these days, we don't even people don't even need publicists. People don't even need to go on to a morning show or because you can just go online and if you are someone like Yay, you can say anything and everyone's going to write about it. So I thought it was a really interesting and I like the way you put it, a serious tone to it. The fact that he put it in that paper and paid for an ad and made it formal, made it official in a way that we've lost some of that a lot of times in social media posts.

00:17:10
Speaker 1: And he did. He mentioned in the post his wife, Bianca Sinceerri, that we often see and we see most of her when we see her because most of the time it's a picture. It's not usually about something she said or something she did, but it's usually because she's naked in public. I actually appreciated seeing that she has and he acknowledged a role more substantial than just being by his side and being naked in public.

00:17:37
Speaker 2: Yes, because before when he had talked about her, he basically said the most recent time where she was literally had a see through, it was basically naked on the red carpet. You know. He said, you don't think she does this on her own. She does what I tell her to do basically, So he was kind of taking on this misogynistic role. At least he seemed to be painting about their relationship. So it was cool to see. I did appreciate that that she stepped in and said basically, you know, you need help and encouraged him to get help. I think that that is the loving role of a wife and that was nice to read.

00:18:07
Speaker 1: The one, Uh, this is what I immediately went to because I had this experience. But I know you were college football there. Another athlete that was must see TV for a while was Johnny Manziel. Yes, at Texas A and M. No matter where you were, you stopped and watched him just he ran around like a little techmobole player. He was just unbelievable, had an incredible career ahead of him, and he kept getting into trouble, kept getting into trouble, He get into trouble, got a second chance. Man, he got in trouble again, third chance, Damn, why is he doing this? It was all kinds of things. He went pro for a little while, got these opportunities, ended up in Vegas missing. You're looking at him and going, what is wrong? What would cause someone to risk after you've gotten all these chances. He was diagnosed later bipolarism, manic and what we saw in Doctor Ashton I think she talked to us about this on set at one point in GMA three. He's displaying manic behavior. He's in a state of mania in which is inexplicable, and he doesn't even know he's doing it, but he has no clear rational and the consequence, he just feels invincible. And that was the first thing I related to when Wow, I saw it like there was another guy just fell off right before our eyes. But this thing we have seen. I think we've both known people in our lives who have been bipolar. World.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: It is no joke, it's not and it's hard to diagnose because he even describes you swing back into a so called normal state, and so you're thinking, what is going on? And I thought it was interesting that he has said, and he said this before in the past, that doctors diagnosed him with autism and so look, this just speaks to how difficult and complex mental illness is, how difficult it is sometimes to get the correct diagnosis. I appreciate the fact that he says he is on medication, he is in therapy, he is using exercise and clean living. This is not an easy thing to overcome, but you can live with it, and especially having the support. And he did thank the black community for not completely turning their back on him. That is that a fair statement?

00:20:14
Speaker 1: Where was his lying there at the end about black folks?

00:20:17
Speaker 2: I love us is what he said. That was the last thing. But he profusely thanked the Black community.

00:20:22
Speaker 1: Me down through all the highs and lows in the darkest times, the foundation of who I am. And you know what that is A that is a it's hard to get kicked out of the black community. That sounds crazy today, and we've had yes cases in the past, but it's different when somebody's making a conscious decision to go do something against the community versus you're having a true issue, like you recognize somebody struggling with something versus someone that's making a conscious decision to turn their back on black folks. And I think we always we always had. Now all that shit he's been saying over the years, I'm like, wow, I'm shocked on this and on that. But every time my heart went, man, I hope he's okay. Man, I hope he gets help. Man, I hope he's got somebody around him he loves him, who loves him, because it didn't seem like he did a lot of times. So yeah, yes, we we want this dude to be okay.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: Yes, And look, it's hard anyone who was around him who loved him, and he so he specifically apologized, uh obviously to those he heard, but to the Jewish community, to the Black community, and to the people who loved him the most, because the people who love him and who loved him, that is a difficult position to be in when the person who you're trying to help is sabotaging themselves. But but it's through mental illness, So it's it's it's such a difficult, a difficult situation for everybody, for Yay and for the people around him in his life.

00:21:51
Speaker 1: And Kate, let before we go here, can you you might have seen it somewhere. There was a there was a Jewish league of someone who put.

00:21:56
Speaker 2: Out at anti defamation They well, they've had they've put out things in the past.

00:22:02
Speaker 1: I saw an update. I'm sorry, I can't. I'm just going to give you the gist of what they were saying was we appreciate it as being a step and hope he's okay, not completely accepting and saying yes, but they just said it's a little late. It wasn't a nasty statement, but that the idea that this was long, long, long overdue, and the way he can do better is by behaving in an in a way that's not anti Semitic.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: Right, some people are saying, yes, I hear what you're saying, but we want to see you do better. And I think that is a lot of what some of the comments have been. And I actually do think I'm about to pull this up. Yes, exactly what the Anti Defamation League said, Ya's apology to the Jewish people is long overdue, and they say this statement that they said that Yay's letter doesn't automatically undo his long history of anti Semitism. They cited his Heil Hitler song the hundreds of tweets, the swastikas, and all the feelings of hurt and betrayal it caused. They said the truest apology would be for him to not engage in anti Semitic behavior in the future. We wish him well on the road to recovery.

00:23:16
Speaker 1: And that's well done. You know what, Let that be a lesson to us as well. Are any of his words he's used over the past ten years hurt any community more than the Jewish community, Probably not, And they are able to speak up and not just put their arms around them but say okay, and we'll see at least be open to it. Dale. Yeah, maybe there's a lesson in therebes.

00:23:36
Speaker 2: Is, there's a lesson in there for everybody. I so agree, and I'm actually really happy he did this.

00:23:42
Speaker 1: Well, maybe Yay is on his way, but folks, we appreciate you spending a little time here with us. On TJ. Holmes on behalf of Amy Robot. We will talk to y'all soon.