Tangle

PREVIEW: The Friday edition. - I forgive Kanye West.


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Kanye West says he’s sorry. 


And I forgive him.


I first wrote about West’s antisemitic rants in 2022, when he began engaging with the world of antisemitism. And, in some narrow ways, I defended him: I pleaded with people to accept that some of the stereotypes he was calling out were actually tied to realities we should discuss, that we can explain the overrepresentation of “The Jews” — my people — in the entertainment industry, while also calling out West when his ranting tipped into paranoia and conspiracy.


In the months and years since, West — who now goes by Ye — has been using increasingly unhinged language. His reality has become more and more divorced from the one you and I share. He apologized in 2023, then took it back; by 2025, he was back to posting Nazi propaganda on social media, selling merchandise adorned with swastikas, and dropping club anthems lionizing Hitler. His social media activity made clear that he was either all the way down the rabbit hole or in the depths of a mental crisis, and following him went from angering to amusing to alarming. I stopped defending him and started blaming him for the rise in antisemitism among his fans, and more broadly for the normalization of antisemitism across our culture. 


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Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.


This podcast was written by: Isaac Saul and audio edited and mixed by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.


Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.

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