In January, the rapper laid the groundwork for his return with a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal apologizing for his long history of antisemitism.

“One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments … that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience,” he wrote in his essay. “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.”

Kanye is fresh off two consecutive sold-out shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium last week that reportedly amassed more than $33 million in ticket sales. Each performance brought out a different batch of celebrities who either participated in the concert or made it known they were in attendance.

The most notable guest star was Lauryn Hill, who performed some of her classics like “Lost Ones” and, for the first time ever, sang the hook to Kanye’s 2003 single “All Falls Down,” which originally sampled her voice but ultimately featured Syleena Johnson on the studio version’s hook. West and company, including Travis Scott and CeeLo Green, who also made guest appearances, couldn’t have asked for a more successful outing, even if some lighting issues caused a few outbursts from the main act.

Fifteen years ago, news of an uber-successful, sold-out Kanye West show would have been the norm. But that decade-and-a-half tells the story of what could have — and should have — been the downfall of one of the world’s biggest music stars.

Kanye has been one of the most unconventional and controversial celebrities since he entered the scene. He’s the guy who, in 2005, went on live TV and declared that then-President George W. Bush “doesn’t care about Black people” after thousands were left stranded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

He’s the same Kanye who interrupted Taylor Swift’s 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech to talk about why Beyoncé deserved to win instead. Fans always knew to expect a guy whose albums and rollouts would come with unpredictability and some level of volatility. However, that would turn into something wholly different in 2016.

The Chicago rapper, just a decade removed from his comments about Bush and Black people, declared an allegiance with President-elect Donald Trump.

It started with a trickle: Kanye telling a crowd that he didn’t vote in the 2016 election, but if he did, he’d vote for Trump. He’d follow with a visit and photo op with Trump, and a full-on declaration of support featuring public appearances donning the infamous red Make America Great Again hats.

For many Black folks and rap fans, this was a betrayal from someone who had previously seemed willing to risk his career to speak up for Black America. That betrayal and pain reached new heights in 2018 when Kanye went to the TMZ offices and declared that slavery was a choice. 

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. … You were there for 400 years, and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”

It would only get more bizarre and disgusting from there. 

Kanye designed and wore a White Lives Matter shirt to his fashion show in 2022. A few weeks later, he posted antisemitic text exchanges to Twitter, resulting in a ban from the platform and Adidas, which released his popular “Yeezy” line, cutting ties with him.

Later that year, Kanye did an interview with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and admitted he sees “good” in Adolf Hitler. In 2024, he was accused of sexual battery and trafficking by a former assistant. The following year, he sold swastika T-shirts and released a song called “Heil Hitler.”

He sold sweatshirts depicting singer Cassie being assaulted by Sean “Diddy” Combs that featured a real-life still image from the on-camera assault. He also donned a Black KKK robe and hoodie for a livestream interview with DJ Akademiks.

These are just the broad strokes. It’s not an exaggeration to say Kanye West has been one of the most hateful and hated public figures we’ve seen in the last few years. He has been a driving force of increasing antisemitism, racism and sexism, platforming extremists such as Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes in the process.

While he was descending into increasing racist outbursts, Kanye did not contribute a minute of meaningful art, let alone share a moment of remorse or true attempts to apologize — until he was ready to release an album. A pattern that has followed him for the past decade.

Even the most compassionate response to Kanye’s very real and very clear mental health struggles has to include an understanding that he still has work to do to fix the harm caused by his rhetoric.

Yet, all that Kanye West has done to address his past actions was write a one-page apology, which mentioned Black people as an afterthought. Followed by an album announcement and concert dates. 

And that’s all it took for thousands of fans to purchase tickets to his SoFi shows and for an embarrassing number of celebrities to attend the concert, treating it like it was a must-see event and posting about it all over social media.

Celebrities from Dave Chappelle — who likes to remind everyone that he is so pro-Black that people want to silence him — were backstage to support. Chloe Bailey, who was mentored by the same Beyoncé whose children Kanye insulted in a 2025 rant, posted videos from the show to social media. Aubrey O’Day, who has been a vocal and brave whistleblower in the case against Combs, also attended the show.

While it’s clear that nobody truly gets canceled, a guy who rocks Klan hoodies and makes Hitler appreciation anthems should not still have enough adoring fans to fill a stadium. Twice. And he should not have celebrity co-signs along the way, especially from people who have built careers on being opposed to the same hatred Kanye has espoused. 

Kanye West has a legendary catalogue of music. But there isn’t a hook, verse, or bit of production in the world that should make it OK to still support him. If we can’t sustain that standard of love for vulnerable communities, then who can we stand up for … or against? If you’re willing to abandon your beliefs, then those beliefs were probably never yours to begin with.

Still, I cling to hope every single day. I wake up and choose to believe that we will find a way to win. That there’s something deep inside that will compel us to band together for the greater good. Some days are harder. Others give me the energy to believe the next day will be better. Tens of thousands of people singing along to a guy who disrespected our enslaved ancestors and praised Hitler makes that hope feel like a childhood memory I can’t place.

After Kanye’s sold-out weekend, he was announced as the headliner for London’s massive Wireless festival, but subsequently barred from entering the United Kingdom due to his past remarks, culminating in the festival’s cancellation. This may lead some to believe that Kanye’s return has run its course.

It hasn’t. 

He has upcoming shows scheduled in multiple countries, including India, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.

As long as there is a memory of the first decade of Kanye West’s career, people will flock to him and his music. The people he’s harmed will have to watch him be celebrated; or maybe even celebrate him themselves. 

The rest of us wait until it’s our turn to fall into the cult of personality — no matter the atrocities committed on our way back to loving the worst of us.

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