Finally. Kanye West has done what he should have done years ago and offered a full mea culpa for the deplorable anti-semitic behaviour that has been a stain on his previously glittering career.
He did this in the most Kanye way possible, of course – by taking out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal today (January 26). It appears to be the genuine from-the-heart apology that all those who admire his music but have despaired at the unhinged bigotry have waited years for.
“I lost touch with reality,” West said of his recent behaviour. “Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.”
“In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it,” he explained. “One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall – that led to poor judgment and reckless behaviour that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience.”
“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state,” he added, “and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
By way of an explanation the producer/ rapper/ mogul says that the decline in his mental health over the last decade and a half was due, in part, to an injury to the right frontal lobe of his brain that happened in a car accident 25 years ago, but which was “not properly diagnosed until 2013.” West claimed that this “medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.”
So why this turnaround? West said he hit rock bottom “a few months ago,” and “found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone.”
He now claims that he’s found a “new baseline and new centre through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living.” He also said he is “pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.”
Concluding, he writes: “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”
The big question must be: is it too late? Many will have already made their mind up about Kanye West. Of course, an indisputable return to form, to the sort of ground-breaking music he made during the 2000s is probably the next step if he wants to fully repair his reputation...
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