Chris Cuomo grills Kanye West on his 'ugly' antisemitic comments: 'What you're saying is not right'

Chris Cuomo grilled Kanye West over his series of antisemitic remarks in a contentious interview, during which he appeared to question the rapper's mental state.

The former CNN anchor conducted an interview with West on NewsNation after the rapper, who is legally known as Ye, tweeted that he would go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE." West made further antisemitic comments in the interview, ranting about what he characterized as the "Jewish underground media mafia" and complaining about times that "bad business has been done with me," also telling Cuomo he doesn't "believe" in the term antisemetic.

"There is no Jewish media cabal mafia," Cuomo told West. "That is a figment of either your imagination or a projection of a prejudice, okay? You may have had bad business dealings with people. It's about those people, it's not about their religion or faith."

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Cuomo warned West about the dangers of targeting "people because of their faith," telling him that "what you're saying is not right" and that "this idea of the Jewish media" is "not how it works," to which West talked over him and began saying, "La la la la la la." The anchor also told West his comments are "ugly," "inherently antisemitic," and "damaging to decency," adding that "I can't give you unrestricted license to attack Jewish people."

Cuomo went on to observe that West, who suffers from bipolar disorder, is "out of control," asking him if he's "taking care of your health," which offended the rapper. The interview came after it was announced that West will buy the conservative social media platform Parler.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.