Nick Cave says Kanye West’s antisemitic comments are ‘disgraceful’

Singer also called West the ‘greatest artist of our generation’

Nick Cave has said that Kanye West’s antisemitic comments are “disgraceful”.

West has recently found himself embroiled in controversy over a number of antisemetic remarks he has made.

The rapper has since received backlash and has been dropped by both Adidas and Balenciaga over the “hateful and dangerous” comments. A number of fellow celebrities have also condemned his behaviour.

You can find out more about what West has said and who has called him out here.

Cave is the latest celebrity to give his opinion on the subject. Speaking in London at the Southbank Centre (October 27) about his new book Faith, Hope and Carnage with Sean O’Hagan, Cave brought West up while responding to a question from the audience.

The question was in regard to whether an artist with problematic personality traits can be separated from their art, NME reported.

Morrisey was raised as an example during the question, leading Cave to begin his answer by talking about The Smiths singer.

“I think Morrissey has done an enormous amount of good work: he’s written some of the most beautiful songs of my generation, [but] he has views that I guess are unacceptable,” he said.

“I think it’s a personal choice,” he continued, before adding: “I get impatient about how self-righteous people seem [to have] a kind of superior position.”

Cave went on to speak about West, relating the topic of discussion to the recent controversy around the rapper: “There’s Kanye at the moment, making antisemitic remarks.”

The singer said that despite the rapper’s problematic statements, he still loved his music, stating: “Kanye, for me, controversially, is, in my opinion, the greatest artist of our generation. I love his music.”

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“‘Yeezus’ and those gospel records… those gospel records are like nothing I’ve ever heard before,” he said.

“But for me, for him to pull out these antisemitic tropes, I think it’s, personally, disgraceful.”

The singer went on to say that he found the disparity between West’s music and his character “deeply disapointing”, explaining that he thought it made the record “difficult” to listen to.

“Does this person need to descend from such great heights down to such tedious s*** we’ve heard so much so often? It’s deeply disappointing to me, and for some time it might be difficult for me personally to listen to a Kanye record, but at the same time I value the output more, on some level.”

Quentin Tarantino has addressed West’s claims that he stole the idea for the 2012 film Django Unchained from him.