Does making “The College Dropout” give you the right to be antisemitic? Does creating “Graduation” permit you to sell swastika T-shirts? As a Jewish fan of Kanye West, these are the questions I’ve been grappling with for weeks.

To be honest, his antisemitism didn’t worry me until recently. In late 2022 I laughed off his conspiracies and comments about “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” figuring he was crazy but harmless. I knew he had an enormous platform and I had heard antisemitism was on the rise nationally, but nothing felt different in my life and community. I did not feel in danger of being ‘death con 3’d.

Many Jews stopped listening to his music, but I dove in. Kanye dominated my playlists and looped constantly in my car. He was in my top 10 most-listened-to artists in 2022 and 2023 and topped my list in 2024. I watched the Netflix documentary about him, talked to my friends about him, looked up to him for his creativity and fearlessness – and ignored pretty much all of his post-2016 actions.

I would play his music out loud in the house, and my parents would protest.

“How could you support this blatant antisemite?” they would ask.

I would explain to them that it was alright to listen to his music. Each listen only gave him a fraction of a cent, and besides, he had already apologized for what he’d said. He had done something bad but it was all in the past.

And then it happened again.

On Feb. 6th, 2025, he launched another antisemitic rant on X, praising Hitler and claiming he was a Nazi. In the days and weeks following he sold a T-shirt with a swastika on it on the yeezy website (which was quickly taken down) and has continued to spew hatred and antisemitic conspiracies.

This time I can’t laugh it off. Partly because I’m more mature than I was three years ago, but primarily because the world is vastly different now. We’re living in the aftermath of Oct. 7th, the election of Donald Trump (and all who come with him) and an astronomical rise in antisemitism.

An Oct. 6th, 2024 article from the BBC discussing antisemitic incidents in the US reported by the Anti-Defamation League stated that “The group [ADL] found more than 10,000 incidents from 7 October 2023 to 24 September of this year, more than a 200% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. It is the highest ever since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979.”

Kanye is not simply an isolated voice or on the fringe; he is part of a pattern of rising hatred and violence towards Jews. In this context, I can no longer justify listening to his music. It’s not so much that it earns him money, but more so that it signals that I, a Jew, condone his actions and words. In a small way it helps normalize antisemitism.

But I will admit that I’m a hypocrite. I separate the art from the artist all the time. I still enjoy Woody Allen’s movies, Louis CK’s stand-up and Michael Jackson’s music, despite their horrendous actions. It’s hard, maybe impossible, for me to defend. However, there is a difference between them and Kanye: their actions, while horrible, are not nearly as influential. They do not inspire similar action in others, and neither does my support of them. When people listen to Michael Jackson, they are not emboldened to do what he did, and seeing me listen to his music does not encourage them either. For Kanye, it’s a different story. Unlike the others, he is adding to a growing chorus of hatred, and my support of him communicates that I’m ok with the chorus growing louder.

I know many Jewish people will continue listening to Kanye, and I understand why. First, his music is the best. It’s hard not to listen to the songs that are always in your head. Second, it’s easy to think your actions don’t matter, that listening to him will not be viewed as a sign of support. But you’re not in control of how people perceive you. When you play his music, it can be interpreted in any way. Choosing not to listen, however, cannot be misunderstood.

So, do a few amazing albums justify words and actions that might make life more dangerous for the Jewish community? For me, the answer is a resounding no.