“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said Friday that Kanye “Ye” West should not be “given a pass” for his offensive, antisemitic comments and behavior because of the state of his mental health.
“I feel like, for some reason, Kanye has been given a pass. I know there’s a perception that he may have some mental health issues, but there are tens of millions of people around this country who have mental health issues, who aren’t saying bigoted, racist, antisemitic things,” Griffin said to her fellow co-hosts on “The View.”
“I think it’s a cop-out … I think he needs to be called out, especially on the heels of the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7,” she added. “There’s a rise globally in antisemitism.”
Griffin’s statement is in response to West’s ongoing attacks against the Jewish community. In the past week, the embattled music mogul has praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and started selling swastika T-shirts on his website.
Griffin said West’s massive platform will ultimately impact his followers in a negative way.
“He does have influence. There are people who are looking to him — especially young people. He should not be normalized, he needs to be called out,” Griffin said.
The other hosts chimed in, sharing how they are also shocked that he’s still invited to prestigious Hollywood events like the Grammys. Sunny Hostin said what stuns her the most is what appears to be a lack of compassion and consideration for a group of people who have been oppressed.
“There’s really something wrong with Ye,” Hostin said. “The African-American community and the Jewish community have always been tied because both communities have been so oppressed. They worked together … Oppressed people must fight together. The fact that a Black man would be so openly vile and antisemitic, it’s just so jarring to me. I don’t want to blame it on mental health issues, because as you’ve mentioned, there are plenty of people with mental health issues that aren’t saying bigoted things.”
West has opened up about his struggles with mental wellness over the years. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder back in 2016 after being hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency. And while he’s walked back his belief in the diagnosis, most recently stating that he actually has autism rather than bipolar disorder, West has shared that he dealt with manic episodes, paranoia and delusions.
West has since wiped his Instagram and X account clear of the offensive posts, as he typically does after lashing out with controversial content.
