Ye, the rapper and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West, apologized for a long string of offensive statements and actions. Citing a brain injury and mental health challenges, Ye apologized to the Black and Jewish communities and asked for patience as he works through his remaining issues.
Ye blamed brain damage, apologized to Jewish people and Black community
Ye took out a full-page paid advertisement in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, titled “To Those I’ve Hurt.” The long note starts by recounting the injuries he sustained in a 2002 car accident, an experience which served as the basis for “Through the Wire,” the lead single on his debut album, The College Dropout. “Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain,” Ye wrote in the WSJ note. The damage to his brain, he explained, “wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023,” which “caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.” Ye went on to reference his condition as an explanation for periods in which he “lost touch with reality” and for offending both Jewish and Black people.
Ye specifically blamed his “disconnected moments” for his promotion of swastika memorabilia, saying, “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.” Seemingly addressing years of anti-Black comments, Ye also addressed part of the note “to the black community – which held me down through all the highs and lows and the darkest of times.” Ye stated, “I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.” Ye credited his wife and participation in Reddit forums for helping him after he hit a low point in 2025, claiming that he now has “an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living” while continuing to engage in music, fashion design, and other forms of art.”
Ye’s apology inspires applause, skepticism and questions
Reactions to Ye’s apology have been mixed, with some applauding Ye and others remaining doubtful. On X, formerly known as Twitter, Black studies graduate student J.D. Baker acknowledged that “skepticism holds merit” regarding the apology but expressed hope that Ye’s “vulnerability in this moment inspires others to seek help.”
“He saw all those right-wing streamer losers in Vendone in Miami last week sing his pathetic Hitler song go real VIRAL,” speculated journalist and podcaster Andrew Jerell Jones, referring to an incident in which several right-wing figures like Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes partied to Ye’s controversial “Heil Hitler” song at Miami nightclub Vendôme earlier in January. “That was the breaking point to him being fully ashamed, leading him to do this.”
Some questioned Ye’s motives: “Kanye releases an album in 4 days btw,” one post read, referencing the long-delayed album Bully, which is scheduled to come out on Jan. 30. “I can’t believe people are falling for this again.”
Kanye releases an album in 4 days btw.
I can’t believe people are falling for this again https://t.co/OBgrvK9EAe— Proper Gander
(@Ghalynho10) January 26, 2026
Others took issue in Ye’s choice of The Wall Street Journal to publish his apology. “No Black publication for the Black apology?” asked one post.
Some took the stance that Ye’s apology simply could not make up for his past actions. “As desperate as I know yall are to forgive that man , it’s genuinely too late to come back from all this,” one post read. “Antisemitism, anti blackness, advocating for Trump etc etc ….I’m glad he’s getting better but he is a contributor of the current political state we are at now.”
Overall, some people seem inclined to forgive Ye, while others remain unmoved by his latest statement, and still others are adopting a wait-and-see approach. What Ye says and does from this point forward will give more evidence on the sincerity of his latest apology and whether he has reached a turning point after years of troublesome behavior.
The post Kanye West Apologizes To Black Community And For Nazi Symbolism, Antisemitic Behavior In Full-Page WSJ Ad appeared first on Blavity.
