Jonah Hill has reflected on Kanye West‘s previous comments about 21 Jump Street making him “like Jewish people again”.
It came after the rapper made a series of antisemitic remarks in 2022, across social media. Those comments saw his accounts on both Instagram and Twitter suspended, and the musician was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, along with fashion brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas.
At first, West gave several interviews refusing to apologise for making the comments while suggesting that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. However, in 2023, West delivered an apology to the Jewish community, but not before he said he “likes Jewish people again” after watching Hill in 21 Jump Street.
“No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of people,” West said at the time. “No Christian can be labelled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew. Thank you Jonah Hill I love you.”
Now, Hill has spoken about the rapper’s comments in a new interview on Zane Lowe‘s Apple Music 1 show.
“I felt that he did this bizarre public thing to kind of make up, like, ‘It’s all good cause I love Jonah,’” Hill said. “[It] just sat with me in a way that it’s, like, all good. I love him still, and I hope whatever happens, he can heal or whatever, and everyone can heal from all that stuff.”
He also praised West as “the greatest artist to ever live” but acknowledged the impact of his antisemitic comments.
“I think there is no artist I probably love more across any genre ever. I think he is probably the greatest artist ever to live,” Hill said.
He continued: “He’s a genius, and the stuff with the hate stuff sucks. What are you going to say? It sucks, no matter who you are, to hear that. Now, do I know what’s going on? No. Am I going to punch someone while they’re down? No, of course not.”
His comments come following a backlash over West’s booking for London’s Wireless Festival.
The rapper was announced last week as the headliner for all three nights of the festival at Finsbury Park in July, with the shows being described as a three-night journey through his “most iconic records”.
The booking has prompted widespread criticism, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said it is “deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism”.
A series of festival sponsors have also cut their ties with Wireless as a result, including Pepsi, drinks giant Diageo, PayPal and Rockstar Energy, piling enormous pressure on the festival to take action.
Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which co-promotes Wireless alongside Live Nation, has since come out and described West’s past antisemitic remarks as “abhorrent”, but called on people to “offer some forgiveness” last night (April 6).
West has also shared a fresh apology in a new update to his Wall Street Journal “to those I’ve hurt” letter, which he originally shared in January.
Elsewhere, David Schwimmer has taken to social media to publicly condemn the booking, branding the rapper a “hate-mongering bigot”.