Kanye West explains why he is “jealous” of Jewish culture

Kanye West has addressed his recent anti-semitic statements in an interview with Piers Morgan.

• READ MORE: With his “White Lives Matter” stunt, has Kanye West finally hit the point of no return?

West has been widely condemned for his recent slew of antisemitic comments, which have resulted in him being banned from both Instagram and Twitter. Celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Silverman and David Schwimmer have taken to social media to speak out against him, as have politicians and other organisations such as the Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance.

Now, in a new interview, West has said he wanted to “hug every Jewish person,” and explained that he was jealous of several aspects of Jewish culture.

“I’m envious of how they don’t abort their children,” he began. “I’m envious of how they don’t shoot each other in the streets and then rap about it. I’m envious of how their families stay together. I’m envious that they turn their phones off on Friday nights and the family comes together. I’m envious of how they do business together. And I want that for the darker Jews, I want that for Black people. We need that.”

He went on to say add that he believes he should be more conscious of the ways he expresses his opinions.

“I feel that my words demand more sensitivity for the frequency that I’m operating at and the amount of people that I’m communicating to,” West continued. “And I take that responsibility right now.”

You can see the clip of West here:

Earlier this week, luxury fashion house Balenciaga cut ties with West over his recent antisemitic comments.

The rapper had teamed up with Balenciaga’s creative director Demna Gvasalia earlier this year to release the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga clothing line, while earlier this month, he opened the house’s Paris Fashion Week show. However, the brand’s parent company Kering told WWD this week (October 20) that they would no longer be working with Ye.

“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” a representative for Kering said.

As WWD reports, a photo of West walking the runway has been removed from the website.

Balenciaga is not the first company West has been associated with to terminate a relationship with him. Last week, JPMorgan Chase confirmed that they had “decided to end its banking relationship with Yeezy, LLC and its affiliated entities”.

Elsewhere, Music News reports that officials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have written an open letter to Adidas, asking them to reconsider releasing products from West’s Yeezy footwear line. They have urged the sports brand to prove that they have not given his “antisemitism a pass”.

“We urge Adidas to reconsider supporting the Ye product line and to issue a statement making clear that the Adidas company and community has no tolerance whatsoever for antisemitism,” they wrote.

The post Kanye West explains why he is “jealous” of Jewish culture appeared first on NME.