From the Yeah, Right Dept.: Ye, Formerly Kanye West, Takes Out Ad in The Wall Street Journal to Apologize for Antisemitic Outbursts: “I Lost Touch With Reality”
S. E. Anderson
Ye, Formerly Kanye West, Takes Out Ad in The Wall Street Journal to Apologize for Antisemitic Outbursts: “I Lost Touch With Reality”
Kanye West, who now goes simply by Ye, is issuing a new apology for everything, according to an ad that the disgraced artist took out in The Wall Street Journal, which ran in Monday’s print edition as the back page to section A. In Ye’s apology, addressed to “Those I’ve Hurt,” the superstar attempts to explain his erratic and alarming behavior in recent years, including public outbursts that have led critics and fans alike to accuse the once prolific and celebrated artist of rampant antisemitism.
Ye, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021, begins his apology by recounting a 2002 car accident that left him with a shattered jaw. “Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain,” he says of the incident. “At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.”
Despite these injuries, Ye still managed to record his debut single, “Through the Wire,” two weeks after the accident. (As its title implies, his jaw was wired shut at the time.)
In his new apology, Ye claims that neurological tests were “limited” in the aftermath of the accident, saying that the “possibility of a frontal-lobe injury” never came up. Ye writes that he was ultimately diagnosed with such an injury in 2023, adding that he believes this injury contributed to his struggle with bipolar I disorder. He was officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016.
Kanye West and Bianca Censori.
In 2023, Ye also released a text he wrote to Elon Musk stating, “I’m not bi polar. I have signs of autism from my car accident.” He had previously told David Letterman he was diagnosed with autism, and last year, he told a podcaster that his bipolar diagnosis was incorrect and was in fact autism.
The ad clarifies that Ye now believes the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. “Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,” he writes. Ye describes the symptoms of bipolar disorder, noting how “persuasive” the condition can feel: “You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable,” he writes. “The idea that you might need help is almost impossible to accept.”
Ye’s career exploded shortly after the car accident. He released his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004 and quickly became a household name. Two more studio albums followed—Late Registration (2005) and Graduation (2007)—with singles like “Touch the Sky,” “Stronger,” and “Gold Digger” becoming chart-topping hits. Ye became one of the defining musical artists of his generation thanks to further releases including My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), the Jay-Z collaboration Watch the Throne (2011), and The Life of Pablo (2016), and he was widely considered one of the greatest rap artists of all time. To date, Ye has released 11 solo studio albums and won 24 Grammys, selling more than 160 million records worldwide. Outside of music, Ye established himself as a designer, launching the popular clothing and footwear brand Yeezy, which is listed on the Journal ad as having paid for it. The ad also bears the signature and email of Yeezy CFO Hussein Lalani. Advertisements can cost between five and six figures. (Dow Jones, which owns the Journal, did not respond to a request for comment before press time.)
Ye earned a reputation for being outspoken, and pushing boundaries. In 2005, Ye famously lit into President George W. Bush during a Hurricane Katrina benefit, saying, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” In 2009, Ye stormed the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards after Taylor Swift won the prize for best female video, claiming that Beyoncé deserved the award more. He announced that he would be running for president in the 2020 and 2024 elections.
Ye’s personal life has also been tumultuous. The rapper began dating Kim Kardashian in 2012 and married her in 2014; they have four children together. They officially divorced in 2022; in the aftermath, he briefly dated actor and artist Julia Fox before marrying Australian architectural designer Bianca Censori in late 2022.
Throughout it all, Ye says in his apology, he’s been suffering due to the trauma of his accident and his subsequent struggle with bipolar disorder. “I lost touch with reality,” he writes. “Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst.” Ye then directly addressed those very people. “You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable,” he wrote. “Looking back, I became detached from my true self.”
In recent years, Ye’s irreverence and brashness shifted into something darker and far more dangerous. In 2018, Ye controversially said that he believed slavery was “a choice,” incensing legions of his fans in the Black community; he later apologized for his statement. In 2022, Ye released a slew of antisemitic statements and imagery. He appeared on Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones’s podcast, Infowars, where he praised Adolf Hitler while also denying the Holocaust. Not long after Musk took over Twitter, Ye was suspended from the platform for posting a swastika (he was reinstated in 2023). In May of 2025, Ye independently released a song titled “Heil Hitler,” which was subsequently banned in Germany. Manosphere figures including alt-right influencers Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate, internet personality Clavicular, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes recently went viral after footage showed them hanging out in Miami Beach while listening to the song. Data shows that antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have been on the rise in recent years.
Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori attend the 67th Grammy Awards.
He apologizes to multiple communities he’s wronged in the ad. He writes that in his “fractured state,” he “gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it.” Ye goes on to say that due to his bipolar type-1 diagnosis, there are many “disconnected moments” that he “cannot recall.” “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change,” he continues. “It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
He also directly addressed the Black community, “To the black community - which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times.” “The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am,” Ye writes. “I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.”
Ye’s apologies have seemed to either presage or follow the release of new music. According to a Spotify listing, Ye’s 12th studio album, Bully, is set to drop as soon as the end of this month.
Read Ye’s apology in full below:
To Those I’ve Hurt:
Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.
Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.
Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.
Once people label you as “crazy,” you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by ten to fifteen years on average, and a 2x-3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type 1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer - all lethal and fatal if left untreated.
The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable.
I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.
In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments - many of which I still cannot recall - that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.
To the black community - which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.
In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.
Having bipolar disorder is notable state of constant mental illness. When you go into a manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely ‘normal’. And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.
I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism.”
My words as a leader in my community have global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.
As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.
I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”
With love,
Ye
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
www.blackeducator.org
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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