Kanye’s KKK costume proves Black men aren’t immune to being radicalised

Black men embracing white supremacy is still a wild sight, but Kanye isn’t the first and he won’t be the last, warns Michaela Makusha. We’re facing the Black manosphere online – and it’s infectious

Oh, Kanye West. It seems that nearly every week, the once-genius rapper seems more focused on being in the news for everything else but music. Last night, for an interview with DJ Akademiks, he wore a swastika necklace before changing into more formal wear – a black-coloured klan robe, that is, hood and all.

We are almost used to his bizarre behaviour by now. But getting onto a stream with a Klan uniform – and not for the first time, given he posted an image of a person wearing a white KKK hood, captioned “Outfit of the Day”, on Instagram three weeks ago before it was removed – is something else entirely.

It’s not the first time he’s been snapped wearing the instantly recognisable symbol of hate and antisemitism, either. West recently posted a (now deleted) video of himself showing off a diamond-encrusted swastika necklace, alongside white supremacist Nick Fuentes (a Holocaust denier who has called for non-Christians to be executed).

And, in February, the rapper appeared in a 60-second ad at the Super Bowl, in which he directed viewers to his website to buy T-shirts bearing a swastika.

While we’re used to his string of antisemitic, homophobic and sexist tweets and outbursts, the KKK hood is certainly new. If he were white, these social media “shock jock” tactics, culminating in him wearing a Klan uniform, might not be quite so surprising. We’d write him off as a racist and be done. Black men embracing white supremacy is still a wild sight.

Unfortunately, though, it's not new. West isn’t even the first, though he might be hoping to earn that crown. A few months ago, Mark Robinson, a Black candidate for governor of North Carolina, gained attention after CNN reported that he had posted a series of comments across social media in which he described himself as a “Black Nazi” and pined for the return of slavery.

In a video posted to social media, Robinson accused his opponent – Democrat Josh Stein – of leaking the story to CNN and vehemently denied making the comments.

It’s an eerie window into the way in which we’re facing the Black manosphere online – and it’s infectious.

The Black manosphere is essentially the same as the traditional manosphere – but it intentionally misuses the language of Black liberation. Its followers argue that feminism and queerness are harmful to the Black community, while also embracing white supremacist talking points – such as the idea that slavery was not as bad as we know it was.

West’s previous argument that slavery was a “choice” and his sudden horror that he had children with a white woman (his KKK-draped interview was also an attack on Kim Kardashian in which he said he regrets getting her pregnant) is part of this particular manosphere.

It appears to be a toxic mix of misogyny, homophobia and a rehashing of antisemitic conspiracy theories – the exact same rantings that can be found in certain online forums and on West’s own social media. Its proponents seem to be the only people who still consider him a genius.

But he is not a genius. The ability to write great music does not mean great judgment. It also does not make you immune from being lumped in to the overall manosphere with the likes of self-confessed misogynist and suspected rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate, who was also (this week) accused of sexual assault and battery by an ex-girlfriend.

West has displayed constant scorn and degradation of his ex-wife, not to mention his deeply concerning treatment of his current wife Bianca Censori – including constantly parading her naked in public.

Now, he is misusing ideas of white oppression to decry why Kardashian may not want him around their children, not to mention his promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories and comments such as saying he “likes Hitler”.

But there is another dimension that worries me about West: his wealth. I can’t imagine you can simply walk into any tailor and ask for a black KKK outfit to wear for a radio interview. When you are wealthy, you can get what you want. And in Trump’s America, it buys you in-roads – even to the heart of government. Just look at Elon Musk.

Just weeks after Musk’s very public “Nazi salute”, he’s claiming “the left don’t understand what Nazism means”.

Being wealthy does not equal intelligence – these men make that startlingly clear. But it does exacerbate the worst traits in some people, especially men.

Did West believe “we’ve got to stop dissing the Nazis all the time” when he was growing up? No – his late mother, Donda West, raised him on Black liberation ideology. But that does mean that he knows how to weaponise the language and aesthetics for his own agenda – and to prop up the Black manosphere.

I don’t know how sincere Kanye’s beliefs are – and, frankly, in the long run, I don’t care. I care far more about the impact this has on Black people and the influence he has over young, Black men.

His constant need for attention borders on the pathological – but the real danger is the sheer size of his platform. He knows what grabs headlines and attention – consciously or not, we all buy into it.

Ignoring him might mean blissful ignorance, but being “blind” to racism or sexism doesn’t help anyone. We must continue to call out danger when we see it – especially when that danger is a rich rapper in a KKK hood.