Elon Musk said in an interview on Saturday night that he wanted to punch Kanye West for his antisemitic tweets.
Musk was a part of a live Q&A on Twitter Spaces talking about the "Twitter Files," when one of the hosts confronted Musk with a "blunt" question about the recent Kanye West scandal and how he would balance suspending West on Twitter and freedom of expression.
"I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence,"
Elon Musk
"I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence," Musk said.
West's Twitter account was suspended again on Friday after he tweeted a photo of a swastika inside a Star of David.
"I think it's important that people know that it was my decision," Musk said.
Musk also pointed out that West went too far in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones saying, "I like Hitler...I'm not trying to be shocking, I like Hitler. The Holocaust is not what happened, let's look at the facts of that and Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities."
"He had a really cool outfit and he was a really good architect...and he didn't kill 6 million Jews," he added.
"At some point, you have to say what is incitement to violence because it is against the law in the US," he said. "Posting swastikas in what is obviously not a good way is an incitement of violence."
"I tried my best," Musk wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended."
Kanye West and his antisemitism
West started the journey to constant antisemitism when he suggested to rapper Diddy that he is being controlled by Jewish people and that he will use him "as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war." Instagram then suspended West's account, leading him to make antisemitic remarks on Twitter.
On October 8, West tweeted, "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 [sic] on Jewish people." Twitter took down the tweet for violating Twitter's rules.
"Death con 3 on Jewish people? What are you doing? It's bad enough that fascism is on the rise around the world but on Twitter? On a portal to pour that in as if Jewish people haven't had it hard enough?"
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis
West said that Jewish people were toying with him and those in opposition to their agenda. He then claimed that he can't be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jews."
His tweet caused outrage among other Hollywood celebrities like Jamie Lee Curtis.
"I woke up and burst into tears," Curtis said while appearing on The Today Show. "Death con 3 on Jewish people? What are you doing? It's bad enough that fascism is on the rise around the world but on Twitter? On a portal to pour that in as if Jewish people haven't had it hard enough?"
A day before going on the show, Curtis tweeted: "The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter. A threat to Jewish people ended once in genocide. Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop."
Actor David Schwimmer posted an Instagram post calling West out. With a black background and the word "bye" as the only visible thing on the post, Schwimmer condemned the rise of antisemitism across the world and called out West.
"Antisemitism is on the rise globally," he stated. "Jews make up only 2.4% of the population of the United States but are the victims of more than 60% of all religious hate crimes, according to the FBI annual report.
"Whether or not Kanye West is mentally ill, there's no question he is a bigot. His hate speech calls for violence against Jews. If you interpret his words any other way and defend him, guess what? You are a racist.
"If we don't call someone as influential as Kanye out for his divisive, ignorant and antisemitic words, then we are complicit. Silence is complicity."