Kanye West controversies - how did we get here?

Arguably one of the most influential artists and producers of his generation, Kanye West - now known as Ye - set a new bar for hip-hop production in the 2000s and 2010s.

He got his start by creating beats for stars including Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, before chomping up the charts in his own right.

His 2003 debut single, Through the Wire, was written from a hospital bed and recorded with his head in a brace following a car accident.

For the next decade, he was unassailable, with hits such as Stronger, Gold Digger and Heartless pushing the boundaries of rap.

But over the years, his career has frequently been derailed by impulsive outbursts, antisemitic tirades and racist statements, among other controversies. The latest furore is over his headline booking at this year's Wireless Festival. It has now led to the cancellation of the festival after the government blocked the rapper from travelling to the UK.

Here are some of those significant - and, to many, offensive - moments.

'Bill Cosby innocent' post - 2016

West had a history of making rash statements before 2016. He famously interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Awards, saying Beyoncé should have won the prize for best female artist.

A few years earlier, he went off script during a telethon to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, declaring that the then-President George Bush "doesn't care about black people".

While many fans agreed with those statements - or at least understood the sentiments behind them - his later support for Bill Cosby, who was under suspicion of drugging and raping dozens of women, was harder to explain.

"BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!" wrote West in a 2016 social media post, prompting an instant backlash.

The US comedian and TV star would later be found guilty of drugging and raping a woman at his Pennsylvania home in 2004, and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. The judgement was later overturned.

But in March 2026, Cosby was ordered to pay $59.25m (£44.1m) in damages to a former waitress after finding he drugged and sexually assaulted her while taking her to one of his shows more than five decades ago.

Slavery sounded like 'a choice'

West caused more controversy when he said the enslavement of African Americans over centuries may have been a "choice".

"When you hear about slavery for 400 years... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice," he said during an appearance on entertainment site TMZ in 2018.

"We're mentally imprisoned," the star added.

Black people were forcibly brought from Africa to the US during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and sold as slaves.

His comments sparked a backlash on social media with some X users suggesting the rapper should revisit the history books.

West later tweeted that his comments had been misinterpreted and that he "brought up the 400 years point because we can't be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years".

Paris Fashion Week October 2022 - White lives matter T-shirt

Having also carved out a career as a fashion designer, the star wore a T-shirt with a White Lives Matter slogan at his At his Yeezy SZN 9 show in Paris.

Anti-racism campaigners criticised the move for mocking the Black Lives Matter movement.

That was followed by a picture of the rapper alongside conservative commentator Candace Owens, wearing one of his T-shirts.

Antisemitic posts see him banned on social media

Soon after, the rapper got into a debate with Sean 'Diddy' Combs over the T-shirt slogan.

West published a private text message exchange on Instagram between him and Combs - who is now in jail after being convicted on prostitution-related charges - in which he claimed Combs was "controlled by Jewish people".

The message played into a long-standing antisemitic conspiracy theory.

West's account was later suspended.

The rapper responded by rejoining Twitter, as the platform was then known, and saying he would go "death con 3 On Jewish people", earning him a second ban.

Both platforms removed West's posts and said the star had violated policies on hate speech.

The previous week, West had given a lengthy interview to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Asked about the "White Lives Matter" t-shirt, he told Carlson it was "funny" and "the obvious thing to do".

"The answer to why I wrote 'White Lives Matter' on a shirt is because they do," he said.

When Carlson asked why the T-shirt had provoked such a backlash, West said that it was because he was not acting in a way the media approved of.

"Because the same people that have stripped us of our identity and labelled us as a colour, have told us what it means to be Black," West said.

Later that year, brands begin to drop the star, including fashion house Balenciaga, talent rep Creative Artists Agency, JP Morgan bank and Gap.

By the end of the month, long-standing partner Adidas had cut ties with West, saying it does "not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech".

Cutting the partnership meant Adidas would make a net loss of £217m in 2022, it said.

West's then wife, Kim Kardashian, addressed his comments and his bipolar disorder, saying: "Those who are close with Kanye know his heart and understand his words sometimes do not align with his intentions."

Presidential bid and praise for Hitler

The following month - November 2022 - West said he intended to run for US president in 2024, despite facing several scandals over his recent behaviour.

The bid never came to fruition. A previous attempt to run for President in 2020 saw the rapper accumulate just 60,000 votes out of an estimated total of 160 million.

In December 2022, West also appeared on a podcast hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Wearing a face covering during the interview, he told Jones: "I see good things about Hitler."

West told Jones that the Nazi leader, like every human being, had brought value to the world.

His comments immediately drew condemnation from many quarters.

Hours after the broadcast, he was again suspended from Twitter for "violating our rule against incitement to violence".

Just a couple of months after that ban, West was suspended from Twitter again and accused of "inciting violence" over offensive tweets.

The US rapper posted a series of erratic tweets - one of which appeared to show a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish star.

First apology - December 2023

In December 2023, West apologised to "the Jewish community" for a series of antisemitic remarks he had made the previous year.

In a statement posted in Hebrew on his Instagram account, he wrote: "I sincerely apologise to the Jewish community… It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused.

"I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity."

Heil Hitler song and swastika T-shirts

In February 2025, West started selling swastika T-shirts, prompting the commerce platform Shopify to take down his web store.

Three months later, West released the track Heil Hitler - in which he claimed a child custody battle and the freezing of his financial assets turned him towards Naziism.

It was banned from all major digital streaming platforms and in Germany due to Germany's laws against extremist symbolism and hate speech, but went viral on social media, particularly on X.

West was later blocked from entering Australia over the song's glorification of the Nazi leader.

West apologises for a second time

In January 2026, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising for his antisemitic behaviour.

"I am not a Nazi or an antisemite," he wrote. "I love Jewish people."

He said that as a result of his bipolar disorder, he had "lost touch with reality".

"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," he wrote.

"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."

But speaking about the rapper's previous controversial comments in 2022, Professor Amy Elizabeth West, who teaches clinical pediatrics and psychology at USC Keck School of Medicine, said: "Bipolar disorder is absolutely not synonymous with racism and there's nothing about mental illness that creates racism or hate.

"Those are all entirely separate behaviours that he happens to have in addition to having bipolar disorder."

Wireless controversy

After releasing his 12th album Bully, which erased all mention of right wing ideology, West was announced as the headliner of London's Wireless Festival - performing for three nights in July 2026.

The booking caused an immediate backlash, after which West updated his open letter to the Wall Street Journal.

Saying that he had been "following the conversation" around his appearance, West said he "would be grateful" to meet members of the Jewish community, "to listen".

"I know words aren't enough," added the star. "I'll have to show change through my actions. If you're open, I'm here."

In a statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was "willing" to meet the rapper, on the condition that he pulls out of his planned performances.

Wireless Festival was later cancelled after the government refused permission for West to enter the UK.