Kanye West hosted a live-streamed listening party for his yet-to-be-released “Vultures” album — though the live feed went dark just after the scandal-ridden rapper mentioned that he’s an “antisemite.”
West, now known as Ye, sang through “Vultures” live at Chicago’s United Center on Thursday while donning a Jason Voorhees mask, eventually getting to a song with the lyrics: “And I’m still crazy, bipolar, anti-Semite. And I’m still the king.”
Veeps, the streaming service that broadcast the event, shut down the feed just one second after the controversial lyric, according to recordings circulating social media.
Fans speculated that Ye broke some sort of agreement he had with Veeps that allowed the company to shut down the livestream at a moment’s notice, TMZ earlier reported.
Representatives for Veeps did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
The title track of “Vultures” also included the vile lyric: “How am I anti-Semitic? I just f—ed a Jewish b—h.”
In other lines, Ye also compared himself to “canceled” celebrities, namely Bill Cosby, R. Kelly and Sean “Diddy” Combs, who have all been accused of either of rape or sex trafficking by multiple women.
At other points during the show, Ty Dolla $ign, KW and even Ye’s 10-year-old daughter North got on stage to perform verses in front of a packed crowd, according to TMZ.
Ye wiped his Instagram ahead of the event before sharing a photo of the number “1,” most likely a nod to “Vultures,” Volume One, which he previously announced was dropping digitally on Feb. 9.
However, fans were outraged when the album was only performed live, and was nowhere to be found on Ye’s website or any major streaming services.
“It’s exhausting being a Kanye fan because WHERE TF IS VULTURES,” one user wrote on X on Friday.
“Kanye West lied to us,” another said.
However, the American Jewish Committee is among the prominent Jewish groups that have taken issue with the antisemitic lyrics littered throughout the “Vultures” album.
Richard Hirschhaut, a spokesperson for American Jewish Committee, told TMZ of the tune: “To fuel the flames of antisemitism and promote such bile to his millions of followers, especially at this fraught and dangerous time for the Jewish community, is unforgivable.”
After blasting the 46-year-old rapper as an “unrepentant antisemite and clearly a misogynist,” Hirschhaut added that the lyrics weren’t surprising given Ye’s history of having very public antisemitic outbursts.
The lines walk back on a December 2023 apology Ye issued to his fans via an Instagram story, where he assured that he was “committed to making amends and promoting unity” with his Jewish fanbase.
The text, written in Hebrew, said: “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions.”
He insisted that he was “learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future,” and concluded by saying that “forgiveness is important to me.”
The bizarre statement came after Ye got himself locked out of his then-Twitter account in October 2022 after posting: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”
The tweet prompted Adidas and Gap to nix their respective Yeezy partnerships with the controversial celeb, causing him lose his billionaire status.
The failed deals didn’t stop Ye from subsequently telling Alex Jones during an “Infowars” interview: “I like Hitler.”
“Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,” Ye also said during his conversation with the alt-right radio show host.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
