Kanye West Twitter Rant: Halsey 'Disturbed' By 'Jokes' About Bipolar Disorder

KEY POINTS

Halsey called out social media users making jokes and offensive remarks about mental health issues
Halsey’s concerns come a day after Kanye West’s Twitter rant about wife Kim Kardashian and her family
Halsey’s sentiments were echoed by other celebrities such as Demi Lovato and Kevin McHale

Kanye West's recent campaign rally and subsequent controversial tweets have sparked concerns over his mental health. Now, Halsey has urged her fans on social media not to vilify people suffering from mental illnesses and make jokes about bipolar disorder.

On Sunday, West held his first campaign rally since announcing his presidential bid. During his speech at the North Charleston, South Carolina rally, the rapper, 43, started to cry while speaking about his mother and abortion. He followed this up the next day with a Twitter rant in which he spoke about his fear of being "locked up" and Kim Kardashian's sex tape with ex Ray J.

Following West's statements, Halsey took to Twitter on Tuesday and posted a series of tweets discussing the topic of mental health, telling her followers that one can disagree with a person’s opinions without making fun of their mental health issues.

"No jokes right now," she tweeted. "I have dedicated my career to offering education and insight about bipolar disorder and I’m so disturbed by what I’m seeing. Personal opinions about someone aside, a manic episode isnt a joke. If you can’t offer understanding or sympathy, offer your silence."

In a follow-up tweet, Halsey called out the people "taking this opportunity to make offensive remarks and vilify people with mental illnesses."

you can hate someone’s actions or opinions without contributing to stigma that damages an entire community of sometimes vulnerable people all for a couple of laughs.
— h (@halsey) July 21, 2020

The singer added that though she has no problem with people not liking someone with a mental illness for their personality, she believes "making jokes specifically targeted towards bipolar hurts more" people than just the one they don't like.

Aside from Halsey, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was 17, a number of other celebrities have also been vocal about mental health issues.

On Tuesday, Demi Lovato urged everyone to be compassionate toward people suffering from mental health problems.

"It would be nice if for once people can put down the meme making apps and pray for someone who's struggling with mental illness," she wrote. "What happened to compassion?"

It’s also amazing to me that people really think they actually know what some celebrities are going thru. Maybe take a step back and remember you don’t know everything about everyone even if you do watch them on tv
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) July 21, 2020

"Glee" star Kevin McHale also tweeted about mental health following West's rants.

"It's easy to laugh and make jokes at something we don't personally have to confront," McHale wrote, adding, "but it's also just as easy to have empathy for struggle because we all have had to confront that."

West's Twitter rant also resulted in the hashtag #PrayForYe trending on Twitter.

Kardashian — who shares North, 7, Saint, 4, Chicago, 2, and Psalm, 1, with West — previously opened up about West’s bipolar disorder in her May 2019 Vogue cover story, revealing that medication was not really an option for him.

"For him, being on medication is not really an option, because it just changes who he is," Kardashian said at the time, adding that traveling affects his mental health. "He doesn’t travel as much as he used to."