SAG-AFTRA believes in freedom of expression, but not hate speech. On Friday, the union took the rare step of convicting one of its own members — Ye, formerly known as Kanye West — for making anti-Semitic statements.
“I love Hitler,” the Grammy-winning rapper recently said on a right-wing talk show, adding, “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.” He also tweeted in October that he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people”.
“SAG-AFTRA detests and condemns the anti-Semitic statements made by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West,” the guild said in a statement. “The use of anti-Semitic imagery and tropes by high-profile individuals on social media and elsewhere is not an innocent rant. It is ignorant, hateful and has real world implications. The tired debunked stereotypes spread by Ye and others only serve to further divide us as a country and humiliate us as a society.
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“Incitement to hatred and the use of hate images is often a precursor to violence. The normalization and mainstreaming of anti-Semitic and racist attitudes has already led to an increase in violence against Jewish people and organizations in this country and elsewhere. Such views and statements are not acceptable to anyone and SAG-AFTRA stands behind and supports the Jewish community in the fight against prejudice, hate speech and threats of violence from any source.
“You only have to look back less than a century to see evidence of what happens when anti-Semitic ideas are allowed to spread unchecked. We say never again.”
