David Schwimmer Urges Elon Musk to Ban Ye From X Over ‘Sick Hate Speech’
David Schwimmer is calling for Ye’s removal from X after the rapper posted a series of controversial and antisemitic remarks.
On Saturday (Feb. 8), the Friends star took to social media to address Elon Musk, urging the X owner to ban Ye — formerly known as Kanye West –from the platform.
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“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,” the Jewish actor, 58, wrote on Instagram. “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.”
In recent days, Ye has gone on a tweet spree filled with hate, once again praising Nazis and Adolf Hitler while targeting the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. In addition to embracing antisemitic stereotypes and hate speech, the 47-year-old rapper also tweeted support for Diddy, who is currently in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Schwimmer continued, “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.”
Following Schwimmer’s comments, Ye posted on X that Musk had unfollowed him. “Elon unfollowed me so I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be on twitter / X If I’m taken off go to,” he captioned a link to yeezy.com.
In his earlier posts, Ye referenced Musk’s repeated use of a Nazi-like salute at a Donald Trump inauguration event in January, which was widely criticized. Musk responded to the backlash, telling critics they “need better dirty tricks.” “Elon stole my Nazi swag at the inauguration… yooo my guy get your own third rale,” Ye wrote, adding, “I can say Jew as much as I want. I can say Hitler as much as I want.”
Ye was initially banned from X (formerly Twitter) in October 2022 for antisemitic posts, briefly reinstated in November, then re-suspended later that month after he posted an image of a swastika intertwined with a Star of David. Eight months later, Musk reinstated West’s account once again.
Claiming he has no interest in “adjusting nothing I do or say for anybody,” West promised to “normalize talking about Hitler they [sic] way talking about killing ni–as has been normalized,” followed by “Hitler was sooooo fresh” and “call me Yaydolf Yitler.”
Amid Ye’s earlier embrace of Hitler and Nazi propaganda, experts spoke to Billboard about the dangers of someone with such a vast social media following promoting antisemitic tropes, especially at a time when hate crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions had reached alarming levels.
“At a time when the community is dealing with this level of hatred to have one of the most well-known entertainers in our culture making statements like ‘I like Hitler’ and showing up on [Jones’] InfoWars is not just vile and offensive, but it’s also endangering Jews by giving people permission to express that kind of prejudice,” Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said at the time. “People in the mainstream did not make such overtly awful, inflammatory comments before like this.”
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