Kanye West has been sued and dropped by his talent agency after he posted a stream of antisemitic abuse, put T-shirts with a swastika on sale in his online shop, and was alleged to have described himself as Hitler to a Jewish employee.
Last week West, also known as Ye, wrote a barrage of antisemitic posts on X including, “I’m a Nazi … I love Hitler”.
The swastika T-shirt was placed for sale on the website of his fashion brand Yeezy, with the product line “HH-01”, assumed to be code for “Heil Hitler”.
Shopify, the company that provided the online platform for Yeezy, has now taken the store offline, stating: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms.”
“… assumed to be code for heil hitler.”
The news really has got to stop with this “assumed to be” bullshit. It’s as clear as day that it is code for heil hitler, as HH/88 has been a long fucking time. It’s the whole “Elon made what looked to be a nazi salute” thing all over again. No it didn’t look like a nazi salute, it was, and this HH is not maybe code for something, it is.
Get some fucking courage and call it like it is.
“… assumed to be… looks like… could be construed as… according to a source…”are all weasel words and phrases to avoid litigation, to give a little leeway if it got to court.
Reporting - with a nod and a wink; and a little protection.
My favourite euphemism for “drunk/drugged and aggressive” celebrities in newspaper stories is “tired and emotional”.
Sometimes it’s best to say something without actually saying it if you want to stay in business. Granted, it’s not ideal.
Libel lawsuits can be expensive, and you can bet your ass that without that ambiguity Ye’s lawyers would be all over them.