Kanye West has held a private meeting with a prominent New York rabbi in which he said he was “taking accountability” for his antisemitic tirades which he blamed on his bipolar disorder.
The rapper, who has legally changed his name to Ye, expressed “profound remorse” for his past comments about the Jewish people and sought forgiveness for them, according to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto.
Video of the meeting, which took place Tuesday, was circulated on the rabbi’s social media Thursday. In it West can be seen holding hands with Pinto and apologizing.
“I feel really blessed to be able to sit here with you today and just take accountability,” West tells the rabbi. “I was dealing with some various issues of bipolar, so it would take the ideas I had and have me take them to an extreme where I would forget about the protection of the people around me or and myself.
“So I wanted to come and take accountability… Sometimes people aren’t that knowledgeable about bipolar and the cause, or what causes it, and the way you act when you have this disease.”
Pinto, through the use of a translator, calls West a “very good man” and the pair embrace.
In a statement accompanying the video on social media, Pinto said: “A person is not defined by his mistakes, but by the way he chooses to correct them. This is the true strength of man: The ability to return, to learn, and to build bridges of love and peace.”
Pinto is a prominent figure among celebrities in Israel and is known for his connections with Israeli public figures including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2015 he was convicted of bribery in Israel and served one year in prison.
The statement added that both West and Pinto hoped that the meeting and its resolution would “serve as an example to the world of the power of faith and reconciliation.”
West has previously been banned from multiple social media platforms including Instagram and X over posts that have violated the platforms’ policies on hate speech.
Though his X account was reinstated in 2023 and remains largely inactive, he caused outrage earlier this year after sharing a flurry of posts in which he praised Adolf Hitler, identified as a Nazi, and promoted a Yeezy t-shirt design featuring a swastika.
In May he independently released a song that was titled “Heil Hitler”, later known as “Hallelujah”, which was universally panned by critics, and received outrage and condemnation due to its antisemitism and praise of the Nazi leader.
The rapper reposted the rabbi’s message and the video to his X account.
The Independent has reached out to the rabbi and attempted to reach West for further comment on the meeting but was unable to find a contact for him.
The Independent has also sought comment from the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism.
