“If a woman did this she’d be shunned from the industry forever,” one person tweeted, while others pointed out that women like Chappell Roan and Zara Larsson recently lost out on huge opportunities over things that hardly warranted backlash.

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In 2022, Ye lost $2 billion in a single day after his antisemitic and hateful remarks resulted in the loss of several lucrative deals and partnerships, including his huge collaboration with Adidas.

Two years later, his 2024 album VULTURES 1, which was a collaboration with rapper Ty Dolla $ign, was criticized for seemingly visually referencing the neo-Nazi Heathen Front movement, while Ye went on a six-minute rant about Jewish people while promoting the project at a listening party.

And just last February, Ye once again made highly offensive remarks against the Jewish community, including declaring that he was “a Nazi” and running a Super Bowl ad that directed viewers to an online store that briefly sold T-shirts with swastikas on them.

“The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable,” he said.

Going on to state that he “lost touch with reality,” Ye wrote, “Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self. In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall – that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience.”

Ye concluded, “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”

*I want to emphasize that, of course, not all famous men get off scot-free. In fact, when punk-rap duo Bob Vylan led a festival crowd to chant "death to the IDF" last year — in reference to Israel’s army, and in solidarity with the people of Palestine — they were immediately dropped from a different music festival and even sparked a criminal investigation.  

For what it’s worth, the news that Ye is headlining Wireless Festival has even been condemned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. “The past comments and actions of this artist are offensive and wrong, and are simply not reflective of London’s values,” he purportedly said, clarifying: “This was a decision taken by the festival organisers and not one City Hall is involved in.”