Kanye West banned from Twitch just seven minutes into antisemitic livestream
Rapper banned after performing Nazi salute and urging followers to “wear swastikas” during livestream
Disgraced rapper Kanye West has been banned from Twitch following a barrage of antisemitic and hate-filled remarks during his first stream,
The 47-year-old, who now goes by Ye, appeared on the platform wearing Prada sunglasses and a black jacket before performing a Nazi salute and exclaiming “Heil Hitler” to his viewers. West also urged his followers to “wear swastikas” during the brief broadcast.
Twitch swiftly shut down the stream, replacing West’s channel, which had fewer than 220 followers, with a standard notice citing a “violation of Twitch’s community guidelines or terms of service”.
West’s Twitch ban comes after he posted a Hitler photo with the GOAT emoji on X, despite a 2022 ban for praising Hitler, with X later telling Jewish News his latest post “hasn’t broken our safety policies.”
During the livestream, West also directed attacks at his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and praised tech mogul Elon Musk, claiming the X owner had given him “free passes” to post discriminatory content. He compared Musk’s leniency to having “an unlimited credit card at Louis Vuitton” that allowed him to “buy more and more things”.
The social media reaction was immediate and scathing. One user said: “He was live for 420 seconds and probably caused 900 terms of service violations,” while another wrote, “Dude only created an account to say some antisemitism. A grown-ass adult went out of their way to create an account just for that.”
West’s appearance on Twitch follows a string of increasingly extreme displays. Last month, he posted a video on X showing himself wearing a diamond-encrusted swastika necklace alongside white supremacist Nick Fuentes, whom he introduced as his “white supremacist homeboy”.
In previous social media posts, West has openly declared, “I’m a Nazi,” and “I don’t like or trust no Jewish person, and this is completely sober with no Hennessy.” Other messages included, “I’m racist. Stereotypes exist for a reason and they all be true,” and “You can get money with Jewish people but they always gonna steal and invite you over to they house on Friday.” He also claimed, “Jewish people actually hate white people and use black people.”
His conduct prompted calls for bans across major platforms. In February actor David Schwimmer publicly urged Elon Musk to remove West from X, highlighting his repeated antisemitic rhetoric to millions of followers.
It remains unclear whether Twitch intends to reinstate West’s account. Given the severity of his conduct, a permanent ban is widely anticipated.
The Jewish News has approached Twitch for comment.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
