Kanye West has issued his lengthiest apology but for his previous antisemitic feedback that derailed his profitable partnership with adidas, decimated his billion-dollar web price and broken his legacy as a socially-outspoken hip-hop icon.
In a full-length advert titled “To These I’ve Harm” printed in The Wall Road Journal on Monday (January 26), Ye penned a candid and heartfelt letter looking for forgiveness from followers and clarifying that he’s not a Nazi.
The 48-year-old blamed his offensive conduct on his 2002 automotive accident, saying his actions have been a results of mind accidents suffered in the course of the crash that developed into bipolar dysfunction, which remained undiagnosed for many years.
“I misplaced contact with actuality,” he wrote. “Issues bought worse the longer ignored the issue. I mentioned and did issues I deeply remorse … Trying again, I turned indifferent from my true self.”
Kanye then detailed the realities of being bipolar, saying he can not keep in mind some “disconnected moments” throughout his “fractured state” and “gravitated in direction of essentially the most harmful image I may discover, the swastika,” which he even printed on T-shirts and bought them by way of his Yeezy web site.
Turning his consideration to the Jewish neighborhood, Ye wrote: “I remorse and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and I’m dedicated to accountability, therapy and significant change. It doesn’t excuse what I did, although. I’m not a Nazi or an antisemite. I like Jewish individuals.”
The G.O.O.D. Music founder additionally apologized to the Black neighborhood, who he known as “the muse of who I’m” and a gaggle that has “held me down by way of all the highs and lows and the darkest of occasions.”
“I’m so sorry to have allow you to down. I like us,” he wrote.
Ye, fka Kanye West, takes out a full-page within the Wall Road Journal to apologize to the Black neighborhood, and for antisemitism:
“I misplaced contact with actuality” pic.twitter.com/Po8s4gNz5P
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 26, 2026
Additional detailing his psychological well being struggles, Ye went on to disclose that in early 2025 he fell right into a “four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive conduct that destroyed my life,” leaving him feeling suicidal.
After hitting “all-time low,” his spouse, Bianca Censori, inspired him to hunt assist.
“As I discover my new baseline and new middle by way of an efficient regime of treatment, remedy, train, and clear residing, I’ve newfound, much-needed readability,” he mentioned. “I’m pouring my power into optimistic, significant artwork: music, clothes, design, and different new concepts to assist the world.”
Nevertheless, Kanye dismissed docs’ earlier diagnoses that his reckless conduct have been merely “signs of autism.” He additionally credited Reddit boards as a supply of “consolation,” serving to him to appreciate “I used to be not alone.”
Yeezy signed off by writing: “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free move, although I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write as we speak merely to ask in your endurance and understanding as I discover my approach dwelling.”
The letter comes greater than three years after Kanye West started stoking controversy with a flurry of racially offensive feedback and strikes, aimed primarily at Jewish individuals.
His antisemitism reached fever pitch throughout a December 2022 look on Alex Jones’ Infowars present the place he praised Adolf Hitler and mentioned he noticed “good issues” concerning the infamous ex-Nazi chief.
Regardless of the widespread backlash, which resulted in adidas terminating their vastly profitable Yeezy sneaker and clothes deal, Ye didn’t let up and controversially launched the track “Heil Hitler” in Could 2025.
In a shocking U-turn later that month, the rap legend mentioned on X (previously Twitter) that he was “executed with antisemitism” and “love[s] all individuals.”
The complete letter might be learn under.
Twenty-five years in the past, I used to be in a automotive accident that broke my jaw and triggered harm to the correct frontal lobe of my mind. On the time, the main focus was on the seen harm—the fracture, the swelling, and the rapid bodily trauma. The deeper harm, the one inside my cranium, went unnoticed.
Complete scans weren’t executed, neurological exams have been restricted, and the opportunity of a frontal-lobe harm was by no means raised. It wasn’t correctly recognized till 2023. That medical oversight triggered critical harm to my psychological well being and led to my bipolar type-1 prognosis.
Bipolar dysfunction comes with its personal protection system. Denial. Once you’re manic, you don’t assume you’re sick. You assume everybody else is overreacting. You’re feeling such as you’re seeing the world extra clearly than ever, when in actuality you’re dropping your grip totally.
As soon as individuals label you as “loopy,” you are feeling as for those who can not contribute something significant to the world. It’s simple for individuals to joke and snort it off when in reality this can be a very critical debilitating illness you’ll be able to die from. In line with the World Well being Group and Cambridge College, individuals with bipolar dysfunction have a life expectancy that’s shortened by ten to fifteen years on common, and a 2x-3x larger all-cause mortality price than the final inhabitants. That is on par with extreme coronary heart illness, kind 1 diabetes, HIV, and most cancers – all deadly and deadly if left untreated.
The scariest factor about this dysfunction is how persuasive it’s when it tells you: You don’t need assistance. It makes you blind, however satisfied you’ve perception. You’re feeling highly effective, sure, unstoppable.
I misplaced contact with actuality. Issues bought worse the longer I ignored the issue. I mentioned and did issues I deeply remorse. Among the individuals I like essentially the most, I handled the worst. You endured concern, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of attempting to have somebody who was, at occasions, unrecognizable. Trying again, I turned indifferent from my true self.
In that fractured state, I gravitated towards essentially the most harmful image I may discover, the swastika, and even bought T-shirts bearing it. One of many tough facets of getting bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – a lot of which I nonetheless can not recall – that led to poor judgment and reckless conduct that oftentimes seems like an out-of-body-experience. I remorse and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am dedicated to accountability, therapy, and significant change. It doesn’t excuse what I did although. I’m not a Nazi or an antisemite. I like Jewish individuals.
To the black neighborhood – which held me down by way of all the highs and lows and the darkest of occasions. The black neighborhood is, unquestionably, the muse of who I’m. I’m so sorry to have allow you to down. I like us.
In early 2025, I fell right into a four-month lengthy manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive conduct that destroyed my life. Because the scenario turned more and more unsustainable, there have been occasions I didn’t need to be right here anymore.Having bipolar dysfunction is notable state of fixed psychological sickness. Once you go right into a manic episode, you might be unwell at that time. If you find yourself not in an episode, you might be fully ‘regular’. And that’s when the wreckage from the sickness hits the toughest. Hitting all-time low a number of months in the past, my spouse inspired me to lastly get assist.
I’ve discovered consolation in Reddit boards of all locations. Totally different individuals communicate of being in manic or depressive episodes of an identical nature. I learn their tales and realized that I used to be not alone. It’s not simply me who ruins their whole life annually regardless of taking meds daily and being informed by the so-called greatest docs on the earth that I’m not bipolar, however merely experiencing “signs of autism.”
My phrases as a pacesetter in my neighborhood have world affect and affect. In my mania, I misplaced full sight of that.
As I discover my new baseline and new middle by way of an efficient regime of treatment, remedy, train, and clear residing, I’ve newfound, much-needed readability. I’m pouring my power into optimistic, significant artwork: music, clothes, design, and different new concepts to assist the world.
I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free move, although I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write as we speak merely to ask in your endurance and understanding as I discover my approach dwelling.
With love,
Ye.
