Extending his too-lengthy return to public life, Kanye West appeared in a Super Bowl ad on local TV stations Sunday night to promote a website selling swastika T-shirts.
The bizarrely un-cinematic spot, shot in a vertical format with an iPhone, featured West (who now calls himself Ye) reclining in a dentist’s chair. “I spent, like, all the money for the commercial on these new teeth,” he explains. “Um … um … um … go to Yeezy.com.”
Visitors on Monday to Yeezy.com, which sells merchandise for West’s fashion brand, could buy only one product: a white T-shirt emblazoned with a large black swastika. The symbol of the Nazi Party in Hitler’s Germany remains in circulation today among white supremacists and hate groups.
Fox-owned stations in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Philadelphia aired the ad, according to a person familiar with the matter, after its content was reviewed by legal counsel as part of normal ad vetting. Local ads are handled differently from national spots, which in the case of last night’s game fetched an average of $7.5 million for 30 seconds. A select number of Fox affiliates owned by other companies also are understood to have aired the spot.
Fox declined to comment, as did a media buying agency said to have played a role in placing the ad. It aired multiple times in the three O&O markets as well as in St. Louis.
At the time the ad ran during the game, the source noted to Deadline, yeezy.com was not featuring the swastika T-shirt. Whoever provides internet service and a domain for Yeezy.com would now be the arbiters of whether Nazi-themed apparel should be freely sold online.
The ad coincided with the deactivation of Kanye West account on X, formerly Twitter, after he declared himself to be a Nazi. “I’m logging out of Twitter,” he wrote in a farewell post. “I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”
The “sounding board” period consisted of Kanye West putting up a series of antisemitic posts. The comments prompted an outpouring of condemnation from critics including David Schwimmer and Piers Morgan. “IM A NAZI,” he wrote over the weekend. “I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT BITCHES.” In another all-caps blast, he added: “SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWISH AND I DONT TRUST ANY OF THEM.”
Kanye West had been welcomed back to X by Musk in 2023 after a prior ban for a previous spree of antisemitism. Apparel giant Adidas parted ways with Yeezy and West over the outbursts in 2022.
The weekend upheaval follows a whirlwind appearance at the red carpet of this month’s Grammys (where he was a nominee). He presented wife Bianca Censori in a completely sheer outfit that set off a photography frenzy.
“As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website – a t-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement about the Super Bowl ad. “Kanye was tweeting vile antisemitism nonstop since last week. There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior.
Even worse, Kanye West advertised his website during the Super Bowl, amplifying it beyond his already massive social media audience.”
Incorrect, it is still the 1 item in a very tiny thumbnail for sale. I didn’t click on it. And I noted that Y e used a Cap Y and so I did also. And when I clicked on don’t sell my info it said it doesn’t exist. Def still there. If I could.put a screenshot I would
It’s disgusting. He’s disgusting.