Holocaust Museum of LA flooded with antisemitic messages after offering Kanye West a private tour
The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles said it has been flooded with antisemitic messages after artist Kanye West rejected their offer of a private tour.
The influx of hateful messages comes after West, who legally changed his name to Ye, made a series of antisemitic remarks. Despite his comments, the CEO of the Holocaust Museum of L.A. Beth Kean and the museum offered a private tour to West hoping that it would change his views.
Ye, since we invited you to visit us at Holocaust Museum LA we have received a tremendous amount of social media messages and comments...some filled with hate, threats, and vitriol. Others were saddled with hurt and yearned for further discourse. @kanyewest pic.twitter.com/bWAiebfnXB
— Holocaust Museum LA (@hmla1961) October 13, 2022
"We know for a fact that education is the greatest catalyst for change," said Kean. "When students and visitors come to the museum if they enter as bystanders they leave as upstanders. We know that."
Ye rejected the offer on the "Drink Champs Podcast" and reportedly said Planned Parenthood was his Holocaust museum.
"We publicly invited him to come to the museum and he publicly rejected our offer," Kean said.
Since extending the invitation, Kean said the museum has been flooded with hateful antisemitic messages on its social media pages.
"I think Kanye has more than double the amount of Twitter followers than there are Jews living in this world," Kean said. "People like Kanye have a huge platform, he has over 30 million Twitter followers and he needs to understand that he needs to use his words to inspire and not incite and to not perpetuate hate and lies and an antisemitism."
Experts believe the artist's actions have invigorated more antisemitic behavior including a stunt on the 405 freeway. On Saturday, a group of people flew a banner that stated "Kanye was right about the Jews," while also displaying Nazi salutes.
"It's infuriating that this is happening in our own backyard," said Kean.
Magen Am, a non-profit security team, said they have increased patrols in the Fairfax District's predominately Jewish neighborhoods. the group of more than 50 volunteers and veterans provides safety training and armed response to dangerous situations.
"Doing everything we can to show that we're not afraid," said President and CEO Rabbi Yossi Eilfort. "We're a strong community and we won't act like victims.
West has faced public backlash for his comments and was dropped by his talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, because of his antisemitic comments.