Ye, the provocative rapper previously often known as Kanye West, explains himself as soon as once more — this time in a full-page advert in Monday’s challenge of the Wall Avenue Journal.
The Grammy-winning musician penned a prolonged apology within the commercial, voicing regrets for his social media assaults on Jewish individuals and his public embracing of Nazism lately. He started his letter detailing accidents from a 2002 automobile accident, together with a frontal-lobe damage he says led to his bipolar type-1 prognosis. Ye wrote that, within the throes of the dysfunction, “I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika.”
He mentioned: “I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret.”
The “Power” and “I Love Kanye” musician, 48, has lengthy had a historical past of stirring controversy, however notably started going through waves of scrutiny for embracing white supremacy, fawning over Adolf Hitler and threatening violence to Jewish individuals on social media in late 2022. Although his skilled life appeared to take blows, West continued embracing Nazi symbolism within the following years, in 2025 promoting a swastika-bearing T-shirt and releasing a single titled “Heil Hitler.” West had additionally allegedly informed a former worker, who’s Jewish, that he was a “Nazi” and in contrast himself to their leaderAdolf Hitler, in response to a lawsuit filed final yr.
“Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst,” he continued. “You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to love someone who was at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.”
The musician mentioned his dysfunction led him to moments of “poor judgment and reckless behavior,” some he mentioned he can’t recall. The rapper mentioned he’s “committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change” and denied that he’s “a Nazi or an antisemite.”
West additionally prolonged his apologies to the Black neighborhood, which he wrote is the “foundation of who I am.”
West (he legally modified his identify to Ye in 2021) wrote that early final yr he skilled a “four-month manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.” He mentioned there have been moments throughout this episode when “I didn’t want to be here anymore.” West mentioned after “hitting rock bottom” he started searching for assist, with the encouragement of spouse Bianca Censori. He mentioned he additionally has since discovered solace in Reddit, the place he mentioned customers shared their experiences with manic and depressive episodes.
West mentioned he’s shifting ahead with “much-needed clarity” reached by a routine of treatment, remedy, train and “clean living.” He added that he’s additionally centered on “positive, meaningful art” together with music, clothes and different ventures “to help the world.” He mentioned he’s not searching for “sympathy, or a free pass,” however somewhat forgiveness and persistence “as I find my way home.”
West beforehand opened up about his psychological state final yr, telling “The Download” podcast that he discovered “it’s really a case of autism that I have.” On the time, he additionally informed podcast host Justin Laboy that he had stopped taking his bipolar treatment since studying it wasn’t the “right diagnosis.”
“It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” the rapper mentioned on the time.
