Kanye West has said he is “absolutely not” sorry for antisemitic remarks he made on social media, but apologised for the hurt his comments caused.
West was locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts after publishing messages to his millions of followers that played into antisemitic conspiracy theories, accusing P Diddy of being controlled by Jewish people.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday night, the host repeatedly asked West, who goes by the alias Ye, if he was sorry for what he had said, but the rapper repeatedly replied: “Absolutely not”.
West’s comments last week included a post on Twitter in which he said he would go “death con 3 On Jewish people”, before adding: “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also.”
Death Con 3 appears to be a reference to the US military status DEFCON 3.
Piers Morgan told the rapper he “should be” sorry for his remarks.
“That is as racist as anything you say you’ve been through and any pain that you’ve experienced,” he said. “It’s the same thing. Racism is racism, and you know that I think - don’t you?”
West responded by laughing, before his face hardened and he said: “Yeah obviously - it’s why I said it.
“I fought fire with fire. I’m not here to get hosed down. This is a different type of freedom fighter.”
He then added: “You know, I will say I’m sorry for the people that are hurt with thedefcon [remark] - the confusion that I caused.
“I feel like I caused hurt and confusion and I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through.”
The controversy over West’s comments comes after he was criticised for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “white lives matter” during Paris fashion week. The slogan also appeared during his show for his fashion brand YZY.
West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder several years ago and has spoken publicly about his mental health difficulties.
