Republicans Have Made Kanye West a Conservative Celebrity
Kanye West has been inching toward reimagining himself as both a virulent antisemite and the public face of Fox News—and now Republicans are in a quandary.
That’s according to hosts Will Sommer and Kelly Weill in this episode of The Daily Beast’s Fever Dreams podcast, which takes a deep dive into how the conservative media and the Republican Party is grappling with how to handle the rapper.
West attracted widespread opprobrium after wearing a long-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter” at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month. Days later, West justified the moment in an interview with Tucker Carlson, telling the Fox News host he thought “it was funny” and that he respected the “White Lives Matter” message “because they do.” Then his antisemitic threats on social media to go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE” got him locked out of both Instagram and Twitter accounts. And leaked video shows West spat similar hate speech in the Fox News interview that was edited out.