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Kanye West, who has lost a wave of business deals due to his recent antisemitic remarks, paid a settlement to a former employee who alleged the rapper praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during meetings, according to documents reviewed by NBC News.
In the settlement, West paid the former worker after they claimed to have witnessed more than one instance where he glorified antisemitic figures in the workplace, NBC News reported Wednesday (November 2). He denied the claims made by the ex-employee, who signed an NDA and wishes to remain anonymous, in the settlement, per the outlet.
The report comes as multiple people who have worked with Ye come forward with instances in which he brought up conspiracy theories about Jewish people or spoke positively about Hitler.
Three ex-employees or collaborators told NBC News that they recalled a number of times when the rapper used antisemitic language. Another three people shared with the outlet a 2018 incident at TMZ where West went on an antisemitic rant.
Conceptual artist Ryder Ripps, who had a working relationship with Ye until 2018, said he discussed the conspiracy theories and commended Nazis during meetings in 2018.
“He had told me a bunch of s— about like, how ‘Nazis are good at propaganda,” Ripps told NBC, adding that Ye claimed, “Jews have codes.”
“With this pattern that’s happening and with the doubling and tripling down of all this, it’s pretty obvious that this is some kind of disgusting, hate-filled, strange Nazi obsession,” Ripps, who is Jewish, said.
Ye didn't respond to the outlet's request for comment.
A slew of companies and businesses have cut ties with the rapper following his antisemitic comments last month, including Adidas, which worked with Ye for nearly a decade, and famous wax Madame Tussauds London, who pulled his wax figure from view.
Amid his latest verbal attacks against Jewish people, former TMZ producer Van Lathan alleged on his podcast that Ye said he “loved Hitler and the Nazis” while at TMZ’s headquarters.
“I mean, I was taken aback because that type of anti-Semitic talk is disgusting. But as far as him, I knew that that was in him because when came to TMZ, he said that stuff and they took it out of the interview,” Lathan said of the incident, which three unnamed people confirmed happened to NBC News.
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