Eric Schmitt promotes Kanye West after antisemitic comments, then deletes amid backlash
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt drew controversy late Tuesday night after he posted a tweet supporting the controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and then deleted it.
“America needs a @kanyewest @KidRock tour,” Schmitt wrote on Twitter at 8:03 p.m. Tuesday. “Let’s go!”
Schmitt, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri, wrote the tweet three days after Ye had written an antisemitic Twitter post where he called for “death con 3” on Jewish people, a reference to DEFCON, a defense preparation system used by the military.
Ye’s tweet was removed from the site shortly after it was posted. A day before his tweet, Ye made antisemitic comments on Instagram, which led to his account on that platform being restricted.
Schmitt’s support of West immediately drew criticism on social media, including from his Democratic opponent, Trudy Busch Valentine, who condemned Schmitt’s support for Ye.
“It reveals a great deal about Eric Schmitt’s character that tonight he is openly embracing those who spew vile antisemitism,” she wrote. “This is both dangerous and appalling. Missouri deserves so much better.”
Schmitt, in a statement provided by his campaign Wednesday morning, said he was not aware of the rapper’s comments, but the statement did not explicitly condemn Ye’s antisemitism.
“Regarding my tweet on Ye and Kid Rock: I like their music. Typically, they’re against the privileged elites like my opponent The Heiress. But, I don’t condone everything they say,” the statement said. The Republican attorney general then tried to deflect the controversy by invoking Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, who has called Israel an “apartheid state,” noting her support for Busch Valentine.
The statement continued, “I wasn’t aware of the recent comments and was commenting on Kanye’s recent interview with Tucker Carlson where he called out left wing hypocrisy.”
Rabbi Doug Alpert of Congregation Kol Ami in Kansas City said Schmitt’s support of Ye should disqualify him from the U.S. Senate.
“I think antisemitism is the Republicans’ brand,” he said. “It’s sad, it’s scary. It’s saying the quiet parts out loud. It’s normalizing the worst kind of antisemitism, racism, homophobia — it’s all in one big hate package.”
Alpert said antisemitism should be the easiest thing to condemn and Schmitt’s statement should have been a “full-throated condemnation” of Ye.
“We need to pay closer attention to the people in power, like an Eric Schmitt who wants more power, who are either supporting the statements or complicit in it through their silence,” he said. “We need to do a better job of calling it out.”
Gavriela Geller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau-American Jewish Committee, in a statement called on Missouri politicians to condemn Ye’s comments.
“Kanye West’s recent comments on Fox News as well as social media were abhorrent and viciously antisemitic,” the statement said. “They have been roundly and justifiably condemned. This kind of language should never be condoned. We need our leaders to state unequivocally that antisemitism and religious hate have no place in Missouri, or anywhere else.”
Prior to the Twitter controversy, conservatives have boosted Ye as a free speech advocate after he appeared this month at Paris Fashion Week where he revealed shirts that said “White Lives Matter.” Fox News host Tucker Carlson had Ye on his show shortly after the shirts caused backlash in the fashion community.
Andrew Leppert, Schmitt’s campaign manager, has promoted Ye’s Tucker Carlson appearance in several recent tweets. In a response to a video clip from the show that highlighted Ye’s “White Live Matter” shirt, Leppert wrote on Friday “Ye, again” with a flame emoji. He also retweeted a photo of Ye holding a hat with the caption “2024.”
Leppert did not respond to a text asking if he condemned Ye’s recent comments.
This story was originally published October 12, 2022 at 9:28 AM.
