Ye has taken an unusually public step toward accountability, purchasing a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to apologise for his past antisemitic actions and to the Black community, writing that he wants ‘to earn your forgiveness’.
The ad ran yesterday (Monday, Jan. 26) under the heading ‘To Those I’ve Hurt’, signed ‘Ye, formerly known as Kanye West’.
In the open letter (as per XXL), Ye reflects on the past two decades of his life, linking his most damaging behaviour to long-term, undiagnosed neurological and mental health issues stemming from a 2002 car accident that left him with a broken jaw and, he says, an untreated frontal lobe injury.
According to Ye, that injury was not properly diagnosed until 2023 and eventually led to his bipolar type-1 diagnosis, he writes that the condition contributed to years of denial, mania, and a growing disconnect from reality.
“I lost touch with reality,” Ye admits.
“Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret.”
Much of the letter directly addresses his antisemitic statements and actions in 2022, including his use and sale of Nazi imagery, Ye does not shy away from naming the harm caused.
“In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it,” he writes, adding:
“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 N*zi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
Ye offers a direct apology to the Black community
“To the black community – which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times,” he writes.
“The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.”
The letter goes on to describe a four month manic episode in early 2025 that Ye says “destroyed my life,” including moments where he did not want to be alive, he credits his wife with encouraging him to seek proper help and says he is now undergoing treatment involving medication, therapy, exercise, and what he describes as clean living.
The apology lands just days before the release of Ye’s new album, Bully, due out this Friday, January 30th, whether this marks a genuine turning point or simply another chapter in a long and volatile public arc remains to be seen.
What is clear is that Ye has, for once, chosen a printed page over a platform meltdown, and placed his words firmly on the record.
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