Actions speak louder than words.
Kanye West was seen wearing a T-shirt with the face of a controversial Norwegian musician known to have had neo-Nazi views despite recently apologizing to the Jewish community for his “unintended” antisemitic rants.
The billionaire rapper, 46, appeared in a photo on social media Friday in a black tee that has the logo of the black metal project Burzum and an image of its frontman, Kristian “Varg” Vikernes, on it.
West is seen standing in the picture alongside rapper JPEGMafia while proudly flaunting his new “fixed and permanent” $850,000 titanium dentures.
JPEGMafia, whose real name is Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks, captioned the photo on Instagram, “can’t talk right now. doing hot girl s–t.”
People online quickly took notice of West’s fashion choice.
One person commented, “Not kanye wearing a burzum shirt 😭 he ain’t coming back from this one.”
Vikernes, 50, performed under the name Burzum from 1992 to 1996, and became one of the most influential artists in the black metal genre.
However, he then became known for being sentenced to 21 years in prison for murdering his Mayhem bandmate Euronymous after an argument in 1993, and openly promoting Nazism in the ’90s.
While incarcerated, Vikernes was believed to have formed the Heathen Front, a neo-Nazi organization that followed a belief system called “Odalism” and promoted antisemitic and white supremacist views.
After Vikernes’ release from prison after 16 years, he moved to France but his troubles continued.
In 2013, he was arrested on suspicions of planning a “large terrorist act” but was released within 48 hours due to lack of evidence, according to the Guardian.
A year later, a local Norwegian outlet reported Vikernes was found guilty of a hate crime in France for inciting racial hatred on his blogs.
Excerpts shown in court reportedly showed the blogs attacked Muslims and Jews. The rocker denied the allegations made against him and claimed the blogs were written by someone else.
Vikernes has also been accused of being racist toward black people. In 2015, he published a since-removed video on YouTube titled “We Are All Africans,” in which he reportedly said, “Appreciate and protect your race. Mother nature made it like it is for a reason,” per MetalInjection.net.
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West’s decision to promote Vikernes and his former musical project seems deliberate given his history of antisemitic rhetoric.
In October 2022, the “Flashing Lights” rapper tweeted that he wanted “to go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE,” referencing the military term defcon that signals a significant risk of an imminent attack.
At the time, he also held a Yeezy fashion show at Paris Fashion Week that featured T-shirts with the phrase “White Lives Matter.”
The controversy ultimately cost West several brand deals, including his partnerships with Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga and others.
It was then revealed that the Yeezy founder openly praised Adolf Hitler and Nazis in meetings, with one ex-employee claiming he overheard his former boss saying, “Nazis are good at propaganda.”
Most recently, West, who is bipolar, went on a rant in a Las Vegas hotel room, saying in part, “It’s 60 million of us in America, 60 million Jews in the world. Who’s going to make the hospitals, though? He’s a Zionist, Trump. This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye, third party, sponsor that.”
A week later, on Christmas Day, the father of four wrote a message in Hebrew on Instagram that read, “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions, it was not my intention to hurt or disrespect, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused.”
“I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future.”
Despite the mea culpa, West has chosen to wear a shirt featuring Vikernes and also appears to have modeled the logo for his new album, “Vultures,” with the same font Burzum used.
Page Six has reached out to his rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Source: NewsFinale
