‘Charming anti-Semite’: Bill Maher reveals why he axed Kanye interview

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Bill Maher says he axed a two-hour Kanye West interview for his Club Random podcast when it became apparent that that the disgraced rapper was nothing more than a “charming anti-Semite.”

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During an appearance on Unhinged but Unstoppable, the latest episode on TMZ Investigates, a docuseries that airs on Fox, Maher said that he thought he could uncover West’s humanity by sitting down with him.

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But as they spoke, Maher realized how dangerous and harmful West’s bigoted comments have been.

“We were here for two hours. By the way, we had an amazing, fun time,” Maher said [per Variety]. “He’s a very charming anti-Semite. And by the way, he’s not the only one in America who feels that way. It’s not like the Jews are universally loved except for Kanye West.”

Despite his comments leading to lost high-profile business partnerships with Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga that cost him billions of dollars, West has still maintained some semblance of popularity.

“The problem, I think, is that he appeals mostly … to young people. They don’t know much and they surely don’t know much about the Middle East or Jews. So the combination of Kanye out there — I feel like he was helpful for spreading the fertilizer, and I do mean fertilizer, for this idea that Israel and the Jews are the worst people in the world,” Maher said.

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West courted controversy in the fall of 2022 after a social media post in which he ranted he was about to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” (which led to him being booted off X and Instagram) and a line of T-shirts he debuted at Paris Fashion Week with the slogan, “White Lives Matter.”

During an appearance with Infowars host Alex Jones in December 2022, West doubled down on his racist rants by declaring his love of Hitler.

“Every human being has something of value that they’ve brought to the table — especially [Adolf] Hitler,” West said. “Also Hitler was born Christian.”

West continued to show he’s gone full crazy by telling Jones: “I see good things about Hitler, also. I love everyone. Jewish people are not going to tell me you can love us, and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts, and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography. But this guy that invented highways, invented the very microphone that I use as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that. I’m done with the classifications.”

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Wearing a black hood, West went on to blame the “Jewish media” for making it seem “like the Nazis and Hitler have never offered anything to the world.”

“I don’t like the word evil next to Nazis,” West continued. “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.”

West later apologized, but looking back at his actions from the past year-and-a-half, TMZ founder Harvey Levin drew parallels between the 24-time Grammy winner’s behaviour and Hitler’s.

“A lot of people were thinking what he was thinking, but in Kanye’s case, the fact that he’s saying it out loud gives other people permission to say it too, right?” Levin said.

“Yes, exactly,” Maher replied. “That’s why I wouldn’t air that episode, because I’m not going to contribute to this.”

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X: @markhdaniell

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