Jamie Lee Curtis took a powerful stance against Kanye West over his antisemitic social media activity, condemning his recent behavior as “just abhorrent.”
The “Halloween Ends” star became visibly emotional while discussing the recent controversy swirling around West and his now-deleted post, in which he claimed he was going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”
“I burst into tears,” Curtis told Hoda Kotb during a “Today” interview on Monday morning. “I woke up and burst into tears. Defcon 3 on Jewish people? What are you doing?
“It’s bad enough that fascism is on the rise around the world,” she added. “But on Twitter, on a portal, to pour that in? As if Jewish people haven’t had it hard enough? … It was just abhorrent.”
The actor, whose paternal grandparents and father, actor Tony Curtis, were Jewish, was among the first in the entertainment industry to publicly respond to West’s tweet, saying that his “words hurt and incite violence.”
“The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter. A threat to Jewish people ended once in a genocide,” she wrote on Twitter Sunday morning. “You are a father. Please stop.”
Speaking with Kotb, Curtis’ eyes welled up with tears, as she mentioned her grandparents, who immigrated to the United States from Hungary, before encouraging the musician to “get help.”
“If we aren’t reacting, who are we?” she continued. “What does it say about people who aren’t reacting? Who woke up and read that and thought, ‘Oh, what are you having for breakfast?’”
West, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, has yet to publicly respond to the backlash surrounding his troubling social media activity.
The rapper had been incessantly posting on Instagram since sparking controversy over the “White Lives Matter” T-shirts he displayed during a Paris show for his Yeezy fashion line.
In one post, he insinuated that the rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was being controlled by Jewish people, resulting in Meta, Instagram’s parent company, restricting his account and removing the post from his page.
Hours later, West returned to Twitter for the first time since November 2020.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote on Saturday night. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
The tweet was taken down for violating the company’s rules with a Twitter spokesperson confirming that his account has since been “locked due to a violation of Twitter’s policies.”
While both of his accounts are still active, West can no longer post from either Twitter or Instagram. Instead, he has moved over to TikTok and YouTube where he’s still sharing content.
Edward Berthelot via Getty Images
Curtis’ recent comments arrive amid a growing chorus of people from Hollywood and beyond who have expressed concern about West’s tweet.
“Kanye threatened the Jews yesterday on twitter and it’s not even trending,” comedian Sarah Silverman wrote on Twitter. “Why do mostly only Jews speak up against Jewish hate? The silence is so loud.”
Multiple Jewish advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, have all labeled West’s remarks as antisemitic and condemned his “dangerous” rhetoric.
“Power. Disloyalty. Greed. Deicide. Blood. Denial. Anti-Zionism. All of these are antisemitic tropes that we break down in our #AntisemitismUncovered Guide,” the ADL stated in a tweet. “Many of these myths have influenced [Kanye West’s] comments recently, and it’s dangerous.”
The Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance has also addressed West’s tweet in a strongly worded statement released on Sunday.
“Ye’s recent statements about the Jewish community are hurtful, offensive, and wrong. They perpetuate stereotypes that have been the basis for discrimination and violence against Jews for thousands of years. Words like this tear at the fabric of the Black-Jewish relationship,” the statement read.
“The Black and Jewish communities must stand together through incidents like this to make clear that trafficking in hateful stereotypes is unacceptable and that the words of one entertainer do not reflect the views of an entire community.”
