Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy condemned Kanye West’s Super Bowl LIX ad that directed viewers to swastika T-shirts in a note to staff on Wednesday.
The ad ran in three markets (Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta) during Super Bowl LIX and encouraged viewers to go to his website, Yeezy.com. However, the site only sold one item — a T-shirt with a swastika on it, called “HH-01,” which West was selling for $20.
“The ad, which was presented as a legitimate online apparel site before and during the airing of the Super Bowl, was switched at some point afterwards, and completely outside of our stations control respondents to the commercials were redirected toward the marketing of a wholly appalling product,” Abernethy said in his email.
It appears West took pains to deceive both Fox and the local news stations. According to multiple reports, at the time the ad aired, the website had sales listings for multiple items of clothing. However, within an hour of the ad airing, all of those items were removed and replaced with just one option: the Swastika tee.
Abernethy continued his statement on the matter and said, “We regret that these commercials aired in these three markets, and we strongly condemn any form of antisemitism. As you well know, Fox is a strong supporter of such organizations as the ‘Foundation to Combat Antisemitism,’ the ‘United Jewish Appeal Federation, and others through direct support or on-air promotion of their campaigns and we will continue to work with them in combating antisemitism.”
Fox received substantial social media backlash and was called out by the The Anti-Defamation League on Monday to condemn the ad. The ADL also created a petition urging others to demand a response from the network.
“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,” the ADL website statement read. “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.”
On Tuesday, Shopify shut down the website, but Yeezy.com was running for more than 24 hours and allowed customers to purchase the antisemitic merchandise. Shopify shared a statement about its decision: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify.”
You can read Abernethy’s full email to staffers, as first reported by Variety, below:
To All FTS Employees:
I wanted to take a moment to address a commercial that ran in three of our local television station markets during Super Bowl LIX on Fox.
The ad, which was presented as a legitimate online apparel site before and during the airing of the Super Bowl, was switched at some point afterwards, and completely outside of our stations control respondents to the commercials were redirected toward the marketing of a wholly appalling product.
We regret that these commercials aired in these three markets, and we strongly condemn any form of antisemitism.
As you well know, Fox is a strong supporter of such organizations as the “Foundation to Combat Antisemitism,” the “United Jewish Appeal Federation,” and others through direct support or on-air promotion of their campaigns and we will continue to work with them in combating antisemitism.
Jack
