A London-based tattoo parlor has announced that it is removing Kanye West-related ink free of charge for former fans seeking to distance themselves from the star after he came out as a Nazi on the Alex Jones Show.
Per The Washington Post, after his first slew of antisemitic remarks, Naama Studios published a post about the service on Instagram on November 15. The announcement came in the form of an image of a young man with the word “Bye” tattooed on his bicep and the hilarious caption, “Yeezy come, Yeezy go. Got a Kanye West Tattoo? Tag us.”
Many users supported the effort to stand against West’s antisemitism. Meganpatriciax praised the post, “Give your marketer a raise. This is hilarious.”
Another user called sarai_sade applauded the scheme, “Amazing!! Well done.”
However, the advertisement also received criticism, with a user called simritsd chided the establishment, “Will be going anywhere but here. Awful PR.”
Another user, emslouisea, slammed the post, “What an absolute embarrassment [sic] for you and your marketing team should be ashamed.”
However, Ye’s most recent attacks on Jewish people have been so extreme that even self-proclaimed free speech advocate Elon Musk banned his Twitter account. West also managed to disgust alt-right shock jock Alex Jones with a declaration of love for Adolf Hitler and Nazis during an interview on Infowars. This was followed by Ye tweeting an image of a swastika woven into a Star of David and the ironic caption, “YE24 LOVE EVERYONE,” and the hashtag #LOVESPEECH in the caption.
Kanye built one of the most successful brands in the world by being an adept provocateur. His hot takes on politics and religion were immensely profitable in the past, and thus he usually managed to evade the consequences of his actions for many years. The reverse happened in 2022 when the business community hit back at Ye and dealt him several severe financial blows. But there’s no coming back from openly being a fan of Hitler and his antics are likely to keep Naama Studios busy for the foreseeable future.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents reached an “all-time high” in 2021, and 2022 is on a similar track. This includes assault, harassment, and vandalism. For more information on the dangers of antisemitic rhetoric and what you can do to stop it, see the American Jewish Committee’s Call to Action Against Antisemitism in America.