Kanye West — legally known as Ye — is taking a public step toward reconciliation.
On Tuesday, November 4, the 48-year-old rapper met privately with prominent Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto in Manhattan, where he expressed deep remorse for his past antisemitic comments and asked for forgiveness from the Jewish community. The meeting, recorded and shared on Rabbi Pinto’s Instagram page on Thursday, November 6, has since gone viral, gaining millions of views across social media.
In the emotional video, Ye is seen holding Rabbi Pinto’s hands as he opens up about his regret and his struggles with bipolar disorder.
“I feel really blessed to be able to sit here with you today and just take accountability,” he said. “I was dealing with some various issues, bipolar also, so it would take the ideas I had and had me take them to an extreme where I would forget about the protection of the people around me and myself. So I wanted to come and take accountability.”
He continued, explaining that his mental health challenges had distorted his judgment and caused him to act recklessly.
“Sometimes people aren’t that knowledgeable about the bipolar and the cause or what causes it and the way you act when you have this disease,” Ye said. “So it’s like if you left the house and you left your kid at the house and your kid went and messed up the kitchen and messed up the garage and messed up the living room. Now when you get back, it’s your responsibility because that’s your child.”
Reflecting on his words and their consequences, Ye added: “That’s the way I look at it. It’s like I got to go clean up the kitchen, I got to clean up the living room, I got to clean up the garage. Yeah, and it’s a big deal for me as a man to come and take accountability for all the things that I’ve said.”
He also expressed gratitude toward Rabbi Pinto for welcoming him with compassion despite his history.
“I really just appreciate you embracing me with open arms and allowing me to make amends,” Ye said. “And this is the beginning and the first steps and the first brick by brick to build back the strong walls.”
Ye’s remarks come after years of backlash over a series of antisemitic comments that began in 2022. In October of that year, he tweeted that he was going “death con 3 on Jewish people,” referencing a U.S. military defense level. His rhetoric escalated in February 2025 when he declared, “I’m a Nazi, I love Hitler,” and claimed he would “never trust Jews” or “work with Jews.”
In May 2025, he released a song titled “Heil Hitler” (later renamed “Hallelujah”), which was widely condemned for its antisemitic themes and apparent praise of Adolf Hitler.
The fallout was immediate. Ye was dropped by his talent agency and major brand partners, including Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga. He was also suspended from multiple social media platforms, leading to a significant decline in his public and commercial standing.
Rabbi Pinto — a well-known Israeli-Moroccan Orthodox rabbi who serves as the chief rabbi of Morocco — responded to Ye’s apology with a message rooted in Jewish values of repentance and redemption.
“The Jews live on this way — if someone did something wrong, you can regret and fix it,” the rabbi said through a translator. “God willing, from now on, strong things and good things and only good. You are a very good man.”
In a caption accompanying the video, Rabbi Pinto added: “A person is not defined by his mistakes, but by the way he chooses to correct them. This is the true strength of man: the ability to return, to learn, and to build bridges of love and peace.”
According to Rabbi Pinto’s office, the meeting aimed to send a message of remorse to the Israeli public and promote “faith, forgiveness, and the power of reconciliation.” Both Ye and Rabbi Pinto expressed hope that the meeting could “serve as an example to the world.”
Rabbi Pinto, who leads the international Shuva Israel institutions and is known for counseling high-profile figures, including LeBron James, has himself been a controversial figure — he was convicted of bribery in Israel in 2015 and served a one-year prison sentence.
Whether this latest apology leads to long-term change remains to be seen, but in his own words, the artist says he’s ready to rebuild “brick by brick.”
“This is the beginning and the first steps,” Ye said. “To build back the strong walls.”
