Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer call out Kanye West antisemitism
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Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer call out Kanye West antisemitism

Jennifer Aniston has supported her former Friends colleague David Schwimmer as the actor has condemned Kanye West’s recent antisemitic comments on social media and accused the rapper of being a bigot.

West, who recently changed his name to Ye, took to Twitter on October 8th to write: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He has since deleted the tweet but not before it was seen and widely condemned.

He later attempted to justify his racist actions by explaining: “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 [sic].”

Schwimmer believes that this is indicative of a dangerous trend, as he noted that “antisemitism is on the rise globally”. He provided statistics noting: “Jews make up only 2.4 per cent of the population of the US but are the victims of more than 60 per cent of all religious hate crimes.”

Many have cited that the rapper might be suffering from mental issues, but Schwimmer said that this does not excuse his actions. “Whether or not Kanye West is mentally ill, there’s no question he is a bigot,” Schwimmer stated.

Adding: “His hate speech calls for violence against Jews. If you interpret his words any other way and defend him, guess what? You are racist. If we don’t call someone as influential as Kanye out for his divisive, ignorant and anti-Semitic words then we are complicit. Silence is complicity.”

His message has since been supported by his friend and former colleague, Jennifer Aniston, who shared her support for David Schwimmer’s message on social media. 

She has, in fact, also condemned Kanye West in 2020. During his presidential campaign, she shared a message saying: “It’s not funny to vote for Kanye. I don’t know how else to say it. Please be responsible.” To which the rapper replied: “Friends wasn’t funny either.”

On this occasion, his actions have been deemed no laughing matter. Sarah Silverman was also one of the first to flag up his deleted comment, as she tweeted: “Kanye West threatened the Jews yesterday on Twitter and it’s not even trending. Why do mostly only Jews speak up against Jewish hate? The silence is so loud.”