Nick Kroll Shades Kanye West Amid Antisemitism Scandal: 'Favorite' Musician
Nick Kroll mocked Kanye West's antisemitism scandal during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday.
A number of celebrities have spoken out to condemn West over antisemitic statements he recently made on social media, but Kroll, 44, opted to make it seem like he had no idea about the controversary surrounding West during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.
During the interview, Kimmel, 54, recalled how Charlize Theron had drafted in singer Michael Bolton to put on a surprise performance for a friend at a party.
"Let's say we were to line somebody up for you as a surprise, who would it be?" Kimmel asked Big Mouth star Kroll.
"Kanye?" Kroll responded after a pause, prompting Kimmel to ask, "West?"
"Kanye West," Kroll clarified to laughter from the studio audience. "He's like my favorite musical artist
"Even now still?" Kimmel asked, sparking more laughter.
"Why, what happened? Kroll jokingly asked. "What did I miss?"
Kimmel then leaned over to whisper in Kroll's ear for several seconds as Kroll said: "Oh! Uh-huh! Copy that. Really?"
"And so then he apologized for it, right? Kroll asked, before Kimmel leaned in to whisper again, leading the show guest to say, "OK, he's going to Israel."
"I think it's going to be weird seeing him at synagogue," Kroll quipped as the bit came to an end.
On October 9, the musician and fashion designer, who has legally changed his name to Ye, was temporarily barred from using his Twitter account, after he posted that he was "going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."
The post came after Ye, 45, was locked out of his Instagram account after sharing a screenshot of a text message exchange, in which he said that he would "show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me."
The antisemitic statements led to Ye being locked out of his Instagram and Twitter accounts, but he made similar remarks in subsequent interviews, prompting a number of businesses to cut ties with him.
Ye—whose California school, Donda Academy, suddenly closed last week without explanation—subsequently saw his net worth plummet from $2 billion to $400 million in a matter of a day, according to Forbes.
While Ye returned to Twitter on Wednesday for the first time since he was locked out of his account, NBC News reported this week that his social media issues have continued, as he received a 30-day ban from posting on Instagram from October 30.
According to Ye's post shared on Parler, the social media platform he was recently announced to be acquiring, he attempted to share a screenshot of a text message exchange with another person he identified as Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons. According to a report from The New York Times, Ye and his label G.O.O.D. Music are no longer affiliated with Def Jam.
In the screenshot shared on Parler, the person identified as Simmons encourages Ye to "leave this fight and strategize" and "rebuild your biz," prompting the rapper to respond with a disparaging claim about "Jewish business people." He also posted a screenshot of a notification from Instagram informing him off his ban "until 2022-11-29."
According to NBC News, a spokesperson for Meta—the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp—confirmed that the company had placed a restriction on Ye's access to the platform and deleted content from his account for violating its policies.
Newsweek has reached out to representatives of Ye and Meta for comment.
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