Kanye West’s new antisemitic track has been taken down from music platforms Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud. However, the hate-filled rap song is still available to listen to on Apple Music after being uploaded by a fan, and has also amassed an alleged 88 million streams from other sites, including X.
The 47-year-old rapper, who previously lost his lucrative Adidas Yeezy partnership following a string of antisemitic remarks, now faces renewed backlash over the track titled ‘Heil Hitler’. In the song, West appears to glorify Adolf Hitler, the architect of the Holocaust in which six million Jews and five million others were murdered.
The song first appeared on X, accompanied by a second track, ‘WW3,’which remains live on several streaming platforms. Combined, the tracks have reportedly garnered over 18 million views on X alone.
Despite its explicit references to Hitler and the Holocaust, West’s posts about the track stayed online on X before eventually being taken down. X has faced scrutiny for weakened moderation policies since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform in late 2022.
Public reaction has been polarising. While many have condemned the song, others have openly supported it. Comedian Russell Brand defended the track on X, saying it had a ‘catchy’ chorus. Controversial influencer Andrew Tate shared a video of himself listening to it in his car.
Others expressed outrage and disbelief over the track’s existence and circulation. One user wrote: “Yeah, I’m not a fan. I like some of his takes, and his willingness to say n*****, but he is a race traitor who loves that Kanye f***** and his horrendous new degenerate song. Not impressed.”
Another user commented: “The mental gymnastics people will go thru to justify disgusting s*** is crazy. Even if we concede the middle finger to the establishment point (which I would not based on Kanye’s antisemitism) Hitler is one of the most grotesque people in history whose regime was censorious…”
A third user added: “Kanye is disgusting, idk how his newest song is even on streaming platforms.”
On Reddit, versions of the song were uploaded to multiple music-related subreddits, including r/Kanye, which has over 1.1 million members. While some users expressed discomfort over West’s continued references to Hitler, others celebrated the release, posting memes and TikTok clips.
A Reddit spokesperson responded to the controversy, stating: “Hate and antisemitism have absolutely no place on Reddit. We have strict rules against hateful content, including antisemitic content. Our internal safety teams proactively enforce these policies across the platform through automated tooling and human review. In line with our sitewide rules, we are removing the song and any celebration of its message.”
Elsewhere, NBC News identified more than a dozen reuploads of the ‘Heil Hitler’ music video on Facebook. On YouTube, at least six reuploads were found, collectively viewed hundreds of thousands of times. On TikTok, users shared clips of the song under the hashtag #hh.
A spokesperson told NBC, “We removed the content and will continue to take down reuploads,” noting that accounts associated with Ye are ineligible for monetisation.
Apple Music, Spotify, X, and Meta have been approached for comment.
