Kanye West has taken out a full-page ad to apologise for his antisemitic remarks.
In the lengthy statement, the rapper, 48, says he was experiencing ‘manic episodes’ and ‘hit rock bottom a few months ago’.
He further declares that he is ‘not a Nazi or an antisemite’ and that he ‘loves Jewish people’, leaving him ‘deeply mortified’ by his past behaviour.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, the Yeezy founder, who has been going by Ye since 2021, discusses his mental health in depth, as well as becoming ‘unrecognisable’ to himself.
He titles the address ‘To Those I’ve Hurt’.
It begins: ‘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. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.
‘Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.’
West goes on to discuss the ‘defence system’ that comes with bipolar disorder (a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings), as well as the ‘denial’.
‘When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,’ he pens.
‘Once people label you as “crazy,” you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from.’
Citing research from the World Health Organisation and Cambridge University, West states that ‘people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by 10 to 15 years on average, and a 2x-3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population’.
‘This is on par with severe heart disease, type 1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer – all lethal and fatal if left untreated.’
On what the ‘scariest thing about this disorder is’, West says it’s the ‘persuasive’ nature of it, making a person believe they do not need help.
Instead, it has made him feel ‘powerful, certain, [and] unstoppable’.
West proceeds to admit he ‘lost touch with reality’ in recent years and, as matters worsened, he continued to ‘ignore the problem’.
Referring to the words and actions that have generated huge backlash and lost him once-loyal fans, he adds: ‘I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognisable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.’
‘In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it,’ West recalls.
He initially directed people to Yeezy.com last February via a Super Bowl ad, after which they found T-shirts featuring a swastika for $20 (£14.60).
A Shopify spokesperson later said the item violated its terms of use. While they removed it, the Canadian e-commerce company also faced criticism for taking ‘an entire day’ to do so.
Elsewhere in his statement, West writes that he struggles to ‘recall’ certain moments from the past which led to ‘poor judgment and reckless behaviour’, as well as an ‘out-of-body experience’.
‘I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though,’ he then says.
Going on to address the Black community directly, which ‘held [him] through all of the highs and lows of the darkest of times’, West calls them ‘unquestionably the foundation of who [he] is’.
‘I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.’
In the latter half, he reminisces on early 2025, when he ‘fell into a four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour’. West says this ‘destroyed [his] life’.
‘As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.’
It wasn’t until a few months ago that West’s wife, model and architect Bianca Censori, 31, encouraged him to get help, he says.
He has subsequently sought ‘comfort’ in the likes of Reddit forums, reading about different people’s experiences ‘of a similar nature’. This made him feel like he wasn’t ‘alone’.
‘It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism”.’
West then refers to himself as ‘a leader in [his] community’, acknowledging his ‘global impact and influence’.
‘In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.’
He concludes by vowing to put ‘new ideas’ out that he believes are more ‘positive’.
‘As I find my new baseline and new centre through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity.
‘I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.’
He signs off by insisting he is ‘not asking for sympathy or a free pass’, but he ‘aspires to earn your forgiveness’.
‘I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.’
The Gold Digger hitmaker has had a number of public outbursts over the years.
These have led to him being banned from X (then Twitter) before Elon Musk’s takeover, which saw his account reinstated, and dropped by fashion giants Adidas and Gap.
Widely condemned for ‘hateful’ and ‘inexcusable’ acts by former fans and public figures, West was then stripped of his billionaire status in October 2022, having lost his big-money partnerships and seen his net worth plummet from $2billion (£1.3bn) to $400million (£348m).
His previous online rants have included praising Hitler, opposing abortion and gay marriage, supporting gun rights, and endorsing Republican leader Donald Trump.
He has also defended rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs against allegations of rape and sexual assault, said in 2018 that the continuation of slavery for 400 years ‘sounds like a choice’ (for which he later apologised), and showcased ‘White Lives Matter’ shirts at his 2022 fashion show, after which he said the Black Lives Matter movement was a ‘scam’.
West has further come under fire for wider conspiratorial, racist, and antisemitic statements, stating in December 2022 that his bipolar disorder was initially a ‘misdiagnosis from a Jewish doctor’.
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