Kanye West Named 'Antisemite Of The Year'

Watchdog organization StopAntisemitism.org has named Kanye West "Antisemite of the Year" following his recent open praise of Adolf Hitler and denial of established facts regarding the Holocaust.

West, who goes by Ye, won due to his "threats of violence, hateful conduct and hate speech," StopAntisemitism.org announced Sunday.

"Congratulations to Kanye West, disgraced rapper and fashion mogul, for being voted the 2022 Antisemite of the Year," the group said in a video posted on Twitter.

"Mazel Tov Kanye West for propagating the most Jew hatred in 2022 and winning this year's dishonor," StopAntisemitism.org added, using a Jewish phrase often used to congratulate someone or wish them good luck.

West recently said that he liked Hitler during an interview with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The 45-year-old artist also claimed he loved Nazis and denied that 6 million Jewish people died in the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews, Rolling Stone reported.

"I see good things about Hitler... [He] invented highways, invented the very microphone that I used as a musician," West said in the Dec. 1 interview on Jones' talk show, "InfoWars."

"You can't say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I'm done with that... Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler," the rapper, who was joined on the program by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, added.

Hitler and the Nazis are often credited with inventing Germany's federal highway system, the autobahn, which is believed to have helped eradicate mass unemployment in the country.

This is historical fiction, German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.

Meanwhile, Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer Alexander Graham Bell patented the first microphone in 1876, according to the University of Georgia's Special Collections Library. Hitler was born in Austria in 1889.

Aside from his praise of Hitler, StopAntisemitism.org also highlighted West's other comments in the past that the organization deemed antisemitic.

West allegedly threatened to harm Jews when he tweeted on Oct. 8 that he would go "[DEFCON] 3 on Jewish people."

DEFCON, or defense readiness condition, is a system used by the United States Armed Forces to indicate the military's state of alert during any given time. DEFCON 1 is the least severe state, while DEFCON 5 signals the start of a nuclear war.

West referenced antisemitic tropes of Jewish people being greedy and obsessed with money as well during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson in October.

In a conversation with fellow rapper Sean Combs that he publicly posted, West also falsely insinuated that Jews control the media, which is another antisemitic trope, according to StopAntisemitism.org.

"Kanye uses his celebrity platform to push dangerous antisemitic tropes about Jews and power and he refuses to stop. His continuous onslaught of bigoted statements has resulted in horrific antisemitic acts perpetrated by white supremacists, Black Hebrew Israelites, and other fringe groups looking to cause Jews harm," the group's executive director, Liora Rez, told TMZ.

Antisemitism appears to be on the rise, data showed.

Last year saw the highest number of documented reports of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews, NPR reported, citing the Anti-Defamation League, an international non-governmental organization that combats antisemitism.

"Jew hatred is already out of control in the United States and the last thing we need is a celebrity like Kanye to add fuel to that fire," Rez said.

West was suspended from Twitter earlier this month after he posted an image of a Nazi swastika blended with a Star of David, a common symbol of Judaism and Israel, on the platform.

The suspension, which was West's most recent one on Twitter, took place just hours after his interview with Jones.

West's antisemitic remarks caused Adidas, reportedly the rapper's most lucrative brand partner, to drop him.

He was also dropped by his talent agency, the California-based Creative Artists Agency, and attorney, Camille Vasquez.

West recently hired Vasquez, who is known for representing actor Johnny Depp in his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

However, the lawyer informed her firm, Brown Rudnick, that she would no longer work with West following the antisemitic comments made during the "InfoWars" interview.