Friends star David Schwimmer has called on action to be taken against Kanye West for his hate-filled “Nazi” posts, arguing that “silence is complicity”.
The rapper – now known as Ye – has made a high-profile return to social media activity over the last week, with a string of controversial posts that have seen him withdraw his apology to the Jewish community for past anti-Semitic comments, as well as declaring himself as “a Nazi”.
Now, Schwimmer has written a response to Ye’s comments, suggesting that the people overseeing the social media companies have a responsibility to act.
Alongside a photograph of Ye with the caption “Im a Nazi”, Schwimmer wrote: “This is so 2022. We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk.”
Referring to the CEO of the platform formerly known as Twitter, he added: “Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”
“I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he identifies as a Nazi (which implies he wants to exterminate ALL marginalized communities including his own) or the fact that there is not sufficient OUTRAGE to remove and ban him from all social media at this point. Silence is complicity.”
Also among Ye’s recent X tirades were comments in support of Diddy and Chris Brown, with the rapper urging for the former to be released from prison amid sexual abuse allegations.
He also claimed to have “dominion” over his wife Bianca Censori, saying her controversial appearance in a near-transparent dress on the Grammys red carpet was only possible due to his “permission”.
IM A NAZI
— ye (@kanyewest) February 7, 2025
I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT BITCHES
— ye (@kanyewest) February 7, 2025
I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE FUCK ANTI SEMETIC MEANS ITS JUST SOME BULLSHIT JEWISH PEOPLE MADE UP TO PROTECT THEIR BULLSHIT WAS THAT THE WRITE THERE 🤣🤣🤣
— ye (@kanyewest) February 7, 2025
IM NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANNA SAY FOREVER WHERES MY FUCKING APOLOGY FOR FREEZING MY ACCOUNTS SUCK MY DICK HOWS THAT FOR AN APOLOGY
— ye (@kanyewest) February 7, 2025
In other follow-up posts, Ye said “I love Hitler”, praised billionaire and X-owner Elon Musk as “the most lit person that [has] ever been on Twitter” and claimed that all other people look up to him.
Ye’s first accusations of anti-Semitism arose in 2022 when he made a series of offensive comments on social media – which saw his accounts on Instagram and Twitter suspended.
Soon afterwards, he was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, while several fashion brands – including Balenciaga and Adidas – ended their partnerships with him, and celebrities and politicians around the world condemned his comments.
He would later go on to say he didn’t “believe” in the term anti-Semitism in an interview with News Nation‘s Chris Cuomo, and refused to apologise for making the comments during an interview with Piers Morgan. In December 2022, he also sat down with far-right commentator Gavin McInnes and told Jewish people to “forgive Hitler”, as well as comparing porn to the Holocaust.
In 2023 he eventually apologised to the Jewish community, before blaming alcohol for the comments the following year.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed against him for his comments over the years. One former employee alleged that the rapper said Jewish people were “working together to hold him back”, later a former employee alleged he used antisemitic language in the workplace and praised Hitler – something which he allegedly plaid a settlement for – and former TMZ staffer Van Lathan also claimed the star had praised “Hitler and the Nazis” during an interview at the publication’s headquarters in 2018.
Musk himself has faced accusations of making a Nazi salute at an event for Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he slapped his chest with his right hand and flung his arm diagonally upwards. The entrepreneur stopped short of formally denouncing Nazism in his follow-up comments to the controversy, describing accusations as “dirty tricks” and “sooo tired”.