The Anti-Defamation League on Monday called on Fox Sports to condemn an ad for Kanye West’s apparel website that aired during the Super Bowl, after it turned out that the only item for sale on the website is a t-shirt with a Nazi swastika on it.
“At the Super Bowl, hate took a front-row seat. Kanye West promoted an ad with a link to swastika t-shirts, broadcasting it to millions on live TV. Just days earlier, his dangerous rants on X praised Hitler, self-identified as a Nazi, and spread antisemitic vitriol. In 2022, ADL identified 30 incidents of harassment, assault, and vandalism linked to Kanye’s online outbursts. We refuse to let hate win. Bigotry has consequences. Join ADL in demanding that Fox Sports condemn this ad and never give hate a platform again,” the group said in a petition it shared on the social media site formerly called Twitter.
The ad, a cheaply shot video taken with an iPhone, featured West sitting on a dentist’s chair where he tells viewers to visit his website, yeezy.com. The cheap weirdness raised eyebrows among viewers who actually saw it, but the commercial wasn’t actually seen by a majority of Super Bowl viewers. According to media reports it aired during the game on local Fox affiliates in just three markets: Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
It also appears West took pains to deceive both the local stations that aired it as well as viewers. According to multiple reports, at the time the ad aired, the website had sales listings for multiple items of clothing. But within an hour of the ad airing, all those items had been taken down and replaced with just one option, a t-shirt with a swastika on it, called “HH-01,” which West is selling for $20.
Representatives for Fox TV Stations, which owns and operates the Fox affiliates in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta, had no comment. But insiders told TheWrap Monday that they did check out the site when the ad was purchased, and that the content was switched later, after the spot had already run. In addition to the three Fox-owned stations in L.A., Atlanta and Philadelphia, time was also purchased on a few select affiliates carrying the game in other markets.
Nevertheless, the commercial aired just two days after West stoked outrage with an unhinged rant on X (formerly Twitter) that among other things saw him declare “I love Hitler. Now what b—s” and “I’m a Nazi.” West also captioned an image of himself wearing a “say no to Nazis” with “I used to be woke too.”
X, which is owned by Elon Musk, has not publicly commented on the matter but as of Monday West’s account has been deactivated. It’s not known if West or the company took that action.
Brian Lowry contributed to this report.