WARNING: This story contains offensive language.
Shopify, the Ottawa-headquartered e-commerce platform, has taken down Kanye West’s merchandise website Yeezy.com, which had been selling a $30 T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika since the weekend.
“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform,” a Shopify spokesperson told CBC News on Tuesday.
“This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify.”
As of Tuesday morning, visitors to Yeezy.com are met with a message that says, “This store is unavailable.” Ye had directed viewers to the site during a Super Bowl ad spot on Sunday that didn’t air nationally but was seen in L.A., according to Variety.
Previously, when you clicked on Yeezy.com, you landed directly on the shirt, which was white with the symbol printed in black. The swastika was used as an emblem by the German Nazi party and is still used as a symbol of hatred today.
The shirt was still available for purchase on Monday afternoon. There was no description other than the code HH-01, which the Anti-Defamation League wrote on X is code for “Heil Hitler.”
As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website – a t-shirt emblazoned with a swastika. The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century… pic.twitter.com/0TT30Dda9D
—@ADL
“As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website — a t-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” the ADL wrote on X on Monday.
Shopify doesn’t pre-screen materials, according to its legal terms, but can “refuse or remove materials” that violate its Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). In its AUP, Shopify notes that “you can’t call for, or threaten, violence against specific people or groups” on the platform.
The e-commerce platform drew criticism in November for hosting an online store that sold Holocaust denial merchandise, according to Bloomberg.
Ye posted a photo of himself on X wearing the swastika shirt on Saturday, according to the Daily Record,
“I’ve wanted to make this tee shirt for years My greatest performance art piece thus far,” he allegedly wrote on the post. CBC News was unable to independently verify it, since all of Ye’s posts have since disappeared.
Ye exits X Sunday
Ye has seen his reputation plummet in recent years due to his antisemitic statements and controversial actions. Since last week, he had been blasting his 34 million social media followers on X with a series of antisemitic, misogynistic and racist posts.
Starting last Thursday and ending Sunday, Ye posted a series of rants on X that repeatedly berated Jewish people, mentioned the Holocaust and praised Hitler, among other topics. Included among the many all-caps posts last Thursday and Friday, he wrote that he doesn’t trust Jewish people, “I’m racist” and “I love Hitler. Now what, bitches.”
He also wrote that he was “never apologizing for my Jewish comments.”
He posted a final series of rants about musicians Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
He criticized Swift for singing along to Lamar’s halftime show, writing that “Kendrick is being used by these white people and Jews and so am I.” He also posted that Lamar should use his halftime platform to call for the release of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is being held in jail awaiting trial for sexual offences, including sex trafficking.
By Sunday afternoon, X owner Elon Musk had unfollowed Ye and said his account was now classified “NSFW” (not safe for work).
“Given what he has posted, his account is now classified as NSFW. You should not be seeing that anymore,” Musk wrote in response to a follower who complained that Ye was posting “literal porn on the timeline.”
A few hours later, Ye said his goodbyes, and then his account went dark.
“I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” Ye wrote in his final post, according to multiple media outlets.
Ye’s former account now simply says, “this account does not exist.” None of his past posts are visible.
CBC News has reached out to X for comment on whether Ye was banned or deleted his account, but has not received a response. According to X’s online help centre, account owners have the ability to deactivate their account at any time, that and when an account owner deactivates their account, “the page will be rendered as unavailable.”
The corresponding example image is identical to how Ye’s account now appears.
Previously locked out of Twitter for antisemitic comments
Ye was previously locked out of Twitter (now known as X) and Instagram in 2022 for antisemitic posts. In 2023, X reactivated Ye’s account.
Ye has a long history of offensive and antisemitic comments, including repeated praise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He also once suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine “the mark of the beast.” In October 2022, he was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show and tweeted threats to Jewish people.
Later that month, the Balenciaga fashion house cut ties with Ye and he lost the lucrative partnership with Adidas — which helped catapult him to billionaire status — over his remarks. In late 2023, Ye went on an antisemitic rant in Las Vegas while promoting his album Vultures. In the rant, he made insidious insinuations about Jewish influence and compared himself to Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler.
Adidas has cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he made antisemitic comments both online and in interviews. It’s the latest in a string of blows for ye following his recent comments, including being dropped by his talent agency.
His behaviour has been back in the public eye since last week. First, for his appearance at the Grammys with his wife, model Bianca Censori, who walked the red carpet in a completely sheer dress, leaving her essentially naked, as Ye looked on.
Then, for revealing in a podcast that he was diagnosed with autism, and suggesting it was to blame for some of his past behaviour.
Ye ‘actively endangering Jews’
On Friday, the American Jewish Committee released a statement condemning Ye for continuing to “purposefully use his platform to spew anti-Jewish hatred.”
“While some may dismiss his hateful rants, we cannot overlook the dangerous influence they can have on his millions of followers, particularly on social media, where a significant portion of today’s antisemitism thrives,” the AJC wrote.
“Hate, left unchecked, only multiplies. At a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing to terrifying levels worldwide, Ye is actively endangering Jews.”
Friends actor David Schwimmer is among those who called on Musk to ban Ye from X. In an Instagram post Sunday, Schwimmer wrote, “we can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk.”
“Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence,” Schwimmer wrote.
On Friday, in response to a follower on X who posted about “Kanye’s attention-seeking meltdown,” calling it “deranged,” Musk replied, “indeed.”
“So many issues like this can be solved simply by internalizing responsibility,” Musk added.
