Kanye West, also known as Ye. Image by Getty Images

By Beth Harpaz June 28, 2023

“You’re exactly like the other Jews!”

That’s what Kanye West’s ex-business partner Alex Klein said the rapper told him after he parted ways with West.

The remark and others like it were described in The Trouble with KanYe, airing Wednesday on BBC Two. Klein is identified as the creator of the Stem Player, an audio remix device and streaming platform for West’s Donda 2 album.

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After Klein decided to stop working with West because of other antisemitic comments West had made, “Kanye was very angry,” Klein said. “You know he was saying, ‘I feel like I wanna smack you’ and ‘you’re exactly like the other Jews’ — almost relishing and reveling in how offensive he could be, using these phrases hoping to hurt me.”

Klein continued: “I asked him and I said ‘do you really think Jews are working together to hold you back?’ and he said, ‘yes, yes I do but it’s not even a statement that I need to take back because look at all the energy around me right now. Without that statement, I wouldn’t become president.’”

West, who is also known as Ye, said last fall that he would run for president in 2024. Whether he’ll follow through is unclear. The Federal Elections Commission has no filings under his name for a 2024 campaign and several media reports suggest the effort is in trouble. 

West’s past antisemitic comments include tweeting that he wanted to go “death con 3” on “THE JEWISH PEOPLE”; saying that he believes Black people are the “real” Jews; blaming his problems on “Zionists”;  and expressing support for Hitler. Earlier this year, however, West said he “likes Jewish people again” because of Jonah Hill’s performance in 21 Jump Street.

The BBC documentary is accompanied by an eight-part podcast The Kanye Story.

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