Ye, who used to go by Kanye West, is switching up his narrative again. After going from posting “I love Hitler” to suddenly declaring “After further reflection I’ve come to the realization that I’m not a Nazi” on X these past two weeks, he’s now dragging Joaquin Phoenix’s fake documentary I’m Still Here into the mix.
Joaquin linked up with director Casey Affleck for this wild ride where he played a fake version of himself, supposedly ditching acting to become a rapper. The whole thing was packed with crazy stunts and weird public moments – like that infamous Late Show appearance – which later turned out to be all part of their plan, with Phoenix staying in character the whole time.
This stunt with Joaquin playing himself – even getting Diddy to act like he was producing his rap album – gave off major Andy Kaufman vibes, bringing back memories of how the comedy legend used to mess with people’s heads back in the day.
Fans aren’t sure if Ye’s hinting that he’s pulling a similar stunt to Phoenix, though some have floated that theory before. Meanwhile, there’s a new Ye documentary that’s supposed to drop in 2025.
His I’m Still Here comments came during a bigger X posting spree, happening just two years after that infamous Alex Jones interview where he first showed love for Hitler.
In one post, Ye claimed he put the swastika on a shirt to “show n***as that we don’t have to be afraid of white people,” talking about how he remembered “gangbangers who were scared to go downtown where the white people were” when he was coming up in Chicago. He also posted about how using the Nazi symbol made him “unusable to users.” Then in another X post, he dropped this weird question: “Can anyone think of reasons why the Nazis wouldn’t let me in?”
Ye also threw in a reference to Chappelle’s Show, sharing a pic of Clayton Bigsby – Dave’s character who was a blind Black man who didn’t know he was Black and became a white supremacist. Along with the screenshot, Ye wrote “If I tried to go to a Nazi meeting.”
Ye also brought up Sid Vicious, sharing a pic of the Sex Pistols bassist with Nancy Spungen and adding a goat emoji. While Vicious did rock a swastika shirt back then, it was mostly seen as a cheap shot at shock value. But there’s a big difference – unlike Ye, Vicious never went around saying stuff like “I’m a Nazi” or “I love Hitler.”
Ye’s tweetstorm also mentioned Steve Bannon – Trump’s old advisor who just got his CPAC invite yanked by France’s Jordan Bardella after throwing what looked like a Nazi salute. Bardella straight up called it a “gesture referring to Nazi ideology” when he canceled Bannon’s planned appearance.
Ye pointed out that Elon Musk did a similar salute at Trump’s inauguration rally in January. Earlier this month, Ye tweeted that Musk “stole my Nazi swag.”
