Kanye West has made headlines for controversial behavior time and time again over the years, whether Ye’s running for president, feuding with Kim Kardashian over custody of their four children or — most recently — multiple incidents of antisemitic comments. However, the rapper seemingly has not been a victim of cancel culture, and Bill Maher, The Game and Angela Yee have weighed in on why they think that is.
Losing an alleged billion dollars in partnerships — much of that from being dropped by Adidas — would likely be enough to sideline most people, but Kanye West has continued to move forward, both personally and professionally. In January 2023, it was learned that he had married Bianca Censori, who had worked at Yeezy since 2020 as an architectural designer. He also has continued to make music, still finding people like Ty Dolla Sign who aren’t afraid to collaborate with the controversial artist. In an upcoming TMZ documentary about the rapper, Bill Maher seemed incredulous that Ye hasn’t been canceled, saying:
It’s just interesting the way some people skate and some people get canceled for seemingly much less egregious infractions, and yet some people do really amazingly bad things or say bad things and the angel of death just flies right over their house.
Kanye West has made multiple comments disparaging the Jewish community in the past year-plus, with one of the most recent examples coming in December with an antisemitic rant in Las Vegas. The “unintended outburst,” as he called it, prompted an apology he posted to Instagram on Christmas Day, written in Hebrew. In November he came under fire — along with Chris Brown, Ty Dolla Sign and others — for laughing about the antisemitic lyrics in his song “Vultures.”
In the TMZ documentary, rapper The Game said Kanye’s refusal to fear cancel culture has kept him from being its victim. He explained:
You can’t cancel someone who doesn’t fear or care of being canceled. That’s the thing about cancel culture. It’s fueled by the care of it. If you don’t care about being canceled, you can’t be canceled.
Radio personality Angela Yee seemed to agree, saying it would likely take something criminal in nature, at this point, to cancel Kanye West, since everything he’s done up to this point has failed to keep him down. She said:
I don’t think Kanye’s cancelable at this point. I feel like if he was going to get canceled, it would have happened. He would have to do something so ridiculously extreme [or] illegal in order for that to happen.
In addition to the backlash over his hate speech, Kanye West has drawn a lot of attention for his relationship with Bianca Censori, with insiders alleging the rapper has a set of rules for his wife, including that she “never speak.” Some close to Censori have expressed concern over how controlling Ye might be in their marriage, with rumors swirling that he has banned her from using social media.
If you want to dive deeper into the conversation about Kanye West and why he has seemingly avoided cancellation, you can check out the TMZ Investigates documentary Kanye West: Unhinged But Unstoppable when it airs at 9 p.m. ET Monday, February 5, on Fox. Check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what other premieres are coming soon.
