Kanye West a ‘danger to my children’, Jewish comedian David Baddiel says

Allowing Kanye West to start tweeting again would be “dangerous for Jews” and “dangerous for my children”, David Baddiel has told Sky News.

The Jewish author and comedian also said he considers the musician to be racist.

West is currently suspended from Twitter for tweeting an image of a swastika hours after praising Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

The musician, 45, posted the grossly offensive image only two weeks after being allowed back on the site following a previous ban.

Baddiel said he understood why Twitter owner Elon Musk might consider another reprieve for the rapper.

“Kanye being let back onto that platform seems to be part of Elon Musk trying to make (it) less dominated by the progressive left,” he told the Beth Rigby Interviews programme.

“I’m not bothered about those arguments. I’m bothered about what is dangerous for Jews. What is dangerous for my children.

“I do think it’s dangerous. I think it’s actively dangerous.”

Regarding West’s motivation, Baddiel said antisemitism is “often seen by people as punching up”.

He continued: “So they don’t see it as racism, because what they see is that Jews are powerful.

“So Kanye will say things like, Jews are in control of the music business, I’m finally throwing off the shackles of how Jews won’t let me speak about this, because they’re in control.”

West has previously accused record producer Sean “Diddy” Combs of being controlled by “the Jewish people” in a post on Instagram.

Baddiel went on: “It comes from a sense of, this is a rebel yell against a race that is controlling us, and the problem with that is it doesn’t sound like a far-right person saying ‘look at these scum, I’m just going to kill them’.

“It sounds like someone fighting the good fight. And that is actually what Hitler, who Kanye has said he’s an admirer of, that is also how Hitler sounded to some people.”

In an interview with the conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, West said: “I like Hitler.”

West retains the ability to influence people, Baddiel said. “Kanye, because he’s a brilliant hip hop artist, has got a really powerful voice,” he pointed out.

Asked whether West is racist, Baddiel said: “I think what he said is antisemitic. And I think antisemitism is racism. Yes.”

Read more:
Kanye West returns to Twitter with ‘shalom’ post – six weeks after antisemitism ban
Adidas ends partnership with Kanye West over rapper’s ‘hateful and dangerous’ comments

Baddiel also discussed his recent apology to the ex-footballer Jason Lee, for the way he portrayed him in sketches in his 1990s television series Fantasy Football League.

“As I became more aware of racism directed against me, as well as being hurt or upset by that, or thinking this is weird, this clearly really racist thing – that I am guilty of the same thing,” he said.

“And that brought it home to me over time, over much too much time, that I should apologise to Jason Lee.

“When I (made a) documentary, I thought I should go and film a face-to-face apology. And thankfully Jason was up for doing that, and it was really difficult. He didn’t in any way let me off.”

Baddiel said he “felt terrible”, “totally felt terrible”.

He told Beth Rigby: “At the end of it, I went up to him, and I just said, look, sorry again, and thank you for seeing me.

“And he just shook my hand and said, no, it’s done now.

“Meaning we’ve done it now, and we can move on. Which is important for me, and important for him.

“It was difficult. It should be difficult.”