Kanye West paid a settlement to a former employee who claimed the rapper praised Hitler, report says
- Kanye West settled with a former employee who accused him of antisemitic remarks, NBC said, citing documents.
- NBC News interviewed six other people who said they witnessed West's antisemitism.
Kanye West — the subject of immense backlash in the wake of his recent antisemitic comments — allegedly paid a settlement to a former employee who accused the rapper of using anti-Jewish remarks in the workplace, NBC News reported late Wednesday, citing documents it reviewed.
NBC News also spoke to six other people who said they worked with West — or have been around him in professional settings — who claimed he made antisemitic remarks, including voicing conspiracy theories about Jewish people and applauding Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
It's not clear when the settlement was allegedly inked: NBC said it was withholding certain information to avoid identifying the person who reportedly came to the settlement with the recording artist and fashion mogul, who now goes by Ye. NBC said it had reviewed the settlement itself, proof of a payout, along with other correspondence.
In the settlement, West denied the employee's claims, NBC said. The employee signed a nondisclosure agreement, NBC said. Representatives for West could not immediately be reached by Insider for comment; his representatives didn't respond to NBC News.
Some of the accusations stretch back seven years, NBC News said, long before West's current wave of antisemitic remarks drew widespread attention and condemnation.
One former West employee who went on the record, conceptual artist Ryder Ripps, who is Jewish, claimed he heard West voice antisemitic conspiracies and pro-Hitler thoughts in the summer and fall of 2018, NBC News reported.
Another employee, who remained anonymous, claimed to NBC News that West said Hitler "had some good qualities" and "wasn't all bad," the report said.
West was temporarily locked out of Instagram and Twitter last month after posting antisemitic posts, including a tweet in which he said he would go "death con 3 on Jewish people."
Companies with partnerships with West, like Gap and Adidas, have since cut ties with the rapper, costing him billions of dollars and essentially destroying his business empire.