From villainizing the Jewish community and spreading antisemitic fervor across the United States to romanticizing Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has become a media magnet. While many are alarmed by his erroneous statements, others are concerned for the rapper’s mental health.
It’s safe to say that 2022 has been a whirlwind year for West: after officially divorcing his now ex-wife, media personality, Kim Kardashian, and publicly bashing her now-former boyfriend, Pete Davidson, in a gruesome fashion, fans were concerned for West and his inability to cope with his divorce. While some sympathized with him, claiming that the Kardashians used him for monetary gain and exploited his successful career, others chastised him for his immature behavior and online harassment of Kardashian, Davidson, and other prominent celebrity figures.
Furthermore, West’s media coverage turned significantly for the worse after his presidential campaign in 2020 when he broke down during a rally and confessed that his wife nearly aborted their first daughter, North West.
In an interview with David Letterman, West opened up about his mental disorders. On the show, he revealed that he’d struggled with bipolar disorder very publicly. He shared his experience during an involuntary psychiatric hold in 2016.
“They have this moment where they put you, they handcuff you, they drug you, they put you on the bed, and they separate you from everyone you know,” West said to Letterman. “That’s something that I am so happy that I experienced myself so I can start by changing that moment.”
Later, in many deleted tweets, West claimed that the famous Kardashian family played a significant role in “locking him up” against his will.
After his divorce from Kardashian, West started to spiral out of control. At first, it seemed like the rapper was simply exhausted with the progressive-dominated music and fashion industry. West took a firm stance against abortion, befriended conservative Daily Wire host, Candace Owens, and spoke out against the Black Lives Matter movement.
Later, however, West’s stances became extreme: he started spreading antisemitic fervor across his fanbase and romanticized Hitler on The Alex Jones Show. West managed to render the far-right radio show host speechless. Furthermore, West expressed his support for Balenciaga, even as it’s still drowning in the infamous advertisement scandal involving satanic themes.
Since then, West has been banned from Instagram and Twitter for posting antisemitic content. Despite literally deplatforming the rapper, Kanye-related coverage has not died down.
According to The Guardian, a majority of West’s remaining fanbase associates with the far-right who are already being silenced by mainstream media. For them, West seems like a hero for speaking out despite continuously being removed from social media platforms. It seems that canceling West just further proves their beliefs that the mainstream media is against them. For much of West’s fanbase, he is an advocate for truth in a convoluted industry that thrives off lies and hypocrisy.
With every tell-all interview that West participates in, he reveals more unsheathed facts about what happens behind closed doors in the entertainment elite industry. Be it hot tea on the Kardashians and Jenners or behind-the-scenes drama in the music industry, West doesn’t hold back.
Yet, the traction West has received in the past months isn’t his own doing– it is the media’s. Despite West’s deteriorating state of mental health being public knowledge, the media has continued to prey on a man who is mentally ill. Instead of taking away West’s platform, celebrity media continuously hunts him out to write clickbait articles on his latest bout of insanity.
While Ye’s statements have been nothing short of dangerous, the news media has actively sought him out for interviews and conversations. There have been reports of paparazzi following Ye and releasing viral footage of him eating alone, walking to his residence, and more.
The media has played an instrumental role in popularizing Kanye’s statements instead of taking away his platform, thus begging the question of whether canceling West is really achieving its purpose if the media continues to keep him in the headlines. This is eerily similar to Britney Spears’ downward spiral in 2019, the media exacerbated an already disastrous situation by preying on a woman suffering from various mental disorders and drove her to a point of near-insanity.
The obvious solution to the “Kanye problem” is to remember that he suffers from severe bipolar disorder. It is vital for West to voluntarily receive medical and psychiatric help for his condition and start a journey toward gradual recovery.
Until then, it is vital that the media stops exacerbating the conflict. It’s time to stop hounding Ye and giving him any more media coverage because he thrives off the attention. It’s time for the media to stop profiting off Ye’s sickness and stop beating the dead horse further.
