Kanye West assails Jews, abortion in new interview with Lex Fridman
Kanye West has been under intense public scrutiny for his new interview with The Atlantic editor in chief. The rapper addressed abortion and Zionism simultaneously in a radio interview on May 26.
“As far as Judaism and Israel, I think it’s very hard to get that mixed up,” West said. “People have the misconception that you can’t be pro-Israel and pro-life because it’s too close. Like, if I go on a rap record, and I say things like, ‘I’m pro-Israel,’ people assume I’m pro-terrorist because the first time it was a song about terrorism.” (His recent album, The Life of Pablo, which is about the Israeli Army, received a lot of backlash online.)
West added, “But I think just like the rest of the world, I’m trying to understand what’s going on here. And I think maybe we just need to be more humble to it and really just try to get at the root of it, rather than jump on whatever bandwagon we thought was cool at the time.”
This is not the first time West has spoken of his mixed feelings about the Middle East and its population. At a concert in Tel Aviv back in 2013, he told the crowd, “I’m not Jewish and I’m not Zionist. I’m just American.”
This has created some controversy – especially on pro-life websites and social media – but it was a response to a question from The Atlantic editor in chief Elizabeth Wolford about what one is to be proud of, and West’s response was positive, says Sami Alkoum, a Palestinian American journalist who has lived in the U.S. since the age of 18.
“It is clear that he has spent his life and career reflecting the complexities of modern American culture,” Alkoum said.
Indeed, the conversation about West and his political stance is somewhat irrelevant if one wants to understand him at his core, a man with a strong moral compass and a deep respect for the United States.
West’s view
