Rapper Kanye West praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Thursday during an interview with Alex Jones on his far-right conspiracy theory podcast, InfoWars.
West, who goes by Ye now, appeared on Jones’ show with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a week after they dined with Former President Donald Trump at is Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Within minutes of his appearance on the show Ye, who wore a black mask the entire time, complimented Hitler even as Jones tried to steer him away from the topic, at times defending him against the backlash he received for his anti-Semitic comments.
“You’re not Hitler, you’re not a Nazi, you don’t deserve to be called that and demonized,” Jones said.
“Well, I see good things about Hitler, also,” Ye said. “I love everyone. The Jewish people are not going to tell me, you know, you can love us and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography.”
“But this guy that invented highways and invented the very microphone that I use as a musician,” West added. “You can’t say out loud that this person never did anything good and I’m done with that, I’m done with the classifications, and every human being has value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.”
Several people who were once close to Ye told CNN in October that the rapper has long been fascinated by Hitler and considered naming one of his albums after the Nazi leader.
“He would praise Hitler by saying how incredible it was that he was able to accumulate so much power and would talk about all the great things he and the Nazi Party achieved for the German people,” one former associate told CNN.
West’s comments come as several top brands including Adidas and GAP, cut ties with him over anti-Semitic comments last month.
According to Forbes the terminated partnerships cut Ye’s $2 billion fortune to $400 million.
He repeated several of those anti-Semitic comments in his interview with Jones on Thursday, claiming there is a “Jewish mafia” and that Jewish people control Hollywood.
