Howard Stern confronts Kanye West following antisemitic comments: “Guess what, douchebag?”
(Credit: Pieter-Jannick Dijkstra)

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Howard Stern confronts Kanye West following antisemitic comments: "Guess what, douchebag?"

Kanye West has been upsetting a lot of people recently. The rapper has been widely condemned for a series of controversial interviews in which he made racist and antisemitic comments. Now, Howard Stern has called out the rapper, arguing that his mental illness is not enough to excuse his actions.

Stern isn’t the only one to condemn West’s comments. Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Silverman, Diane Wilson, Jack Antonoff, John Legend, and David Schwimmer have all slammed the rapper. Schwimmer noted: “Whether or not Kanye West is mentally ill, there’s no question he is a bigot.” West also had his Twitter and Instagram accounts suspended earlier this month.”

On a recent episode of his SiriusXM radio show, Stern called out West on his behaviour – something a lot of people have been too afraid to do for fear of being dragged into the controversy. “I almost don’t want to give any energy to this Kanye West character,” Stern began “I don’t know much about Kanye West. I’m not big into the rap scene, but, he is, you know — I’m really tired of people excusing his behaviour by saying, ‘Well, he’s just mentally ill.’”

Stern continued: “Kanye was on the Chris Cuomo show, and good lord, you gotta hear the shit this guy’s into and fuck this mental illness, self-defence thing that he’s into, you know, like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s just mentally ill. Don’t worry about it…’ If he’s so mentally ill, why don’t they appoint a conservator over his money like they did with the poor Britney Spears?”

Stern then praised those who have had the courage to call out the rapper, “exposing him”. He also played a clip from West’s conversation with Cuomo, in which West blames the “Jewish underground media mafia” for his media perception. “Guess what, douchebag?” Stern added, “When they write about me, they call me the shock jock,” Stern said in reference to Ye’s comments. “You don’t have control over — You are a rapper. That is what you are. That’s how you became famous.”

He went on to note: “If a newspaper article doesn’t point out the fact that you’re some sort of designer or genius, maybe that’s not because they’re Jewish, but maybe because they just don’t put that much thought into who the fuck you are and what your business is.”