American rapper Kanye West threatened to lock children in cages

Controversial American rapper Kanye West found himself in the crosshairs of the American judiciary due to his renewed anti-Semitic statements and glorification of Hitler. West told employees: “The Jews are after me” and “The Jews want my money.” This appears from the lawsuit filed Tuesday by his former employee Trevor Phillips in California.

Over a meal at an expensive restaurant, the rapper, who has spoken openly about his mental health problems in the past, described Adolf Hitler as “great.” “He invented a lot. 'Thanks to him we have cars,'” West is said to have said, perhaps a reference to the legend that Hitler invented the motorway. In fact, most plans for motorway construction date back to the Weimar era.

Encourage children to shave their heads

Phillips also noted that West regularly yelled at all black employees. “Kanye also prohibited his employees from becoming obese,” the indictment says. He told two children at a school he founded to shave their heads and threatened to lock them in cages.

Phillips, who worked for West's fashion company and a school he founded for about a year, is seeking $35,000 (32,500 euros) in compensation. His lawyer, Karni Shegerian, emphasized: “We hope (…) that West will understand that his messages, which we believe call for discrimination, anti-Semitism and love of Hitler, have no place in the world.”

Threats against Jews

At the end of last year – shortly before the release of his new album – Kanye West apologized for past anti-Semitic statements. The rapper, who renamed himself Ye, wrote in Hebrew on the online Instagram platform that he wanted to “learn” from this experience and be more sensitive and understanding in the future. At that point, his failures had been in place for more than a year.

In October 2022, Kanye West made threats against Jews on the online service X (then Twitter). He was then banned from the online service. German sporting goods manufacturer Adidas and other companies also ended their cooperation with the rapper. A few weeks later, West, who admitted to having bipolar disorder, said in an interview that he loved Hitler and “loved the Nazis.”