{"id":236864,"date":"2026-02-25T15:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/25\/yes-lawyers-still-insist-nazi-comments-were-art-after-latest-antisemitism-apology\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T15:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:15:32","slug":"yes-lawyers-still-insist-nazi-comments-were-art-after-latest-antisemitism-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/25\/yes-lawyers-still-insist-nazi-comments-were-art-after-latest-antisemitism-apology\/","title":{"rendered":"Ye\u2019s Lawyers Still Insist \u2018Nazi\u2019 Comments Were Art After Latest Antisemitism\u00a0Apology"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tAt the end of January, Ye (formerly Kanye West<\/a>) issued an apology to the Jewish community saying his \u201creckless behavior\u201d was caused by brain damage. But he\u2019s still fighting an antisemitism lawsuit, arguing in new court papers that certain comments were art.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an appeal filed on Monday (Feb. 23), Ye\u2019s lawyers say a lower court was wrong not to dismiss<\/a> a Jewish marketing specialist\u2019s workplace discrimination claims on First Amendment grounds. Doubling down on their arguments from the initial lawsuit, the rapper\u2019s attorneys say his public persona is \u201cintentionally provocative and thematically charged,\u201d and that comments calling himself a \u201cNazi\u201d and \u201cHitler\u201d to this person were protected as part of his artistic expression.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe communications she challenges \u2014 creative directives, conceptual drafts, provocative imagery, marketing strategy and staffing decisions shaping a public-facing message \u2014 were not collateral to Ye\u2019s art; they were part of its development,\u201d write Ye\u2019s attorneys Andrew Cherkasky<\/strong> and Katie Cherkasky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tYe Hit With Lawsuit Over \u2018Vultures 2\u2019 Sample\u00a0(Again)\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tGroovin the Moo Makes Regional Return With 2026 Lismore Show\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJust in Time For Valentine’s Day, Spotify Shares Which Love-Themed Lyrics From Taylor Swift, Djo and HUNTR\/X Are Most Shared\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tThese arguments come almost exactly a month after Ye apologized for his years of public antisemitism<\/a> in a full-page Wall Street Journal <\/a><\/em>ad<\/a>. Ahead of the release of his next album Bully <\/em>through a new partnership<\/a> with Gamma., Ye wrote that his controversial comments stemmed from a 2002 car crash that caused severe brain damage and bipolar disorder and led to \u201cpoor judgment and reckless behavior,\u201d much of which he does not remember.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment and meaningful change,\u201d wrote Ye. \u201cIt does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYe began to post antisemitic comments online in 2022, leading him to lose lucrative deals with brands like Balenciaga and Adidas. He previously apologized for the hate speech in a 2023 post in Hebrew<\/a> ahead of the release of his chart-topping album Vultures 1<\/em> but later reversed course, praising Hitler<\/a> in an early 2025 social media tirade and selling swastika t-shirts<\/a> on his website.<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard <\/em>asked Ye\u2019s spokesperson, right-wing personality Milo Yiannopolous<\/strong>, whether the rapper\u2019s apology is contradicted by his attorneys\u2019 continued legal arguments that his antisemitic speech is art. Yiannopolous responded, \u201cThe premise of your question is faulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is no contradiction,\u201d said Yiannopolous. \u201cArtistic product, even if interpreted as sympathetic to, or in support of, questionable or controversial or merely unfashionable ideology, is protected speech. The fact that Ye may or may not regret an artistic expression today does not mean that it was not an artistic expression when it was made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBillboard<\/em> is not in a position to adjudicate which of Ye\u2019s utterances is art, and neither am I,\u201d added Yiannopolous. \u201cA man with 75 Grammy nominations must be permitted to make that determination for himself. I would go further. Ye does not merely produce art. He is art. His life and lifestyle, the clothes he wears, the language he uses, his means of expression and his opinions, be they political or otherwise, are all art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tYe Says Latest Apology For Hateful Antisemitic Remarks \u2018Isn\u2019t About Reviving My Commerciality\u2019 Ahead of Album\u00a0Release\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tAttorneys for the Jewish marketing specialist, who\u2019s suing under the anonymous moniker Jane Doe, did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoe sued Ye<\/a> for workplace discrimination last year, claiming he subjected her to \u201cantisemitic vitriol\u201d while promoting Vultures 1<\/em> in 2024 and later fired her for complaining about it. The lawsuit cites text messages in which Ye allegedly wrote \u201cI am a Nazi\u201d and \u201cwelcome to the first day of working for Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttorneys for Ye sought to throw out the case under California\u2019s anti-SLAPP statute, which shields against legal actions that threaten free speech. A Los Angeles judge rejected that attempt this summer, ruling that internal messages in a private workplace do not fall under the umbrella of First Amendment-protected artistic expression.<\/p>\n

\n\tYe\u2019s lawyers are now challenging that decision and urging a California appeals court to end the lawsuit. In Monday\u2019s appellate brief, they argued that the rapper\u2019s texts to Doe were all sent in the context of marketing Vultures 1<\/em>, including responding to critiques that the album cover evoked Nazi imagery.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor an artist at that level, internal exchanges with a publicist about marketing, imagery and thematic presentation are not \u2018private musings\u2019 disconnected from public concern; they are the collaborative process through which expressive works are shaped for public reception,\u201d reads the brief.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoe\u2019s lawyers are set to respond with their own court papers in May. If Ye loses the appeal, the discrimination claims will move forward into evidence discovery.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case is among numerous civil lawsuits<\/a> brought in recent years over working conditions at Ye\u2019s web of companies, including his Yeezy fashion line and now-shuttered private school Donda Academy. The first of these cases, a dispute with a construction worker<\/a> on his Malibu mansion, is on trial now in Los Angeles court. A jury heard opening statements on Tuesday (Feb. 24), and Ye himself is expected to testify in the coming days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of January, Ye (formerly Kanye West) issued an apology to the Jewish community saying his \u201creckless behavior\u201d was caused by brain damage. But he\u2019s still fighting an antisemitism lawsuit, arguing in new court papers that certain comments were art. In an appeal filed on Monday (Feb. 23), Ye\u2019s lawyers say a lower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}