Chicago rapper and hip-hop artist Kanye “Ye” West has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons over the past decade, struggling with public bipolar disorder and other mental health issues since 2016. 

Following his divorce from media personality Kim Kardashian, Ye began a series of anti-semitic messages and posts on the social media platform “X” in October 2022. 

These posts almost always had a similar theme of anti-semitism and hate towards other marginalized communities, including African-Americans, when he commended the KKK and promoted white privilege through “White Lives Matter.” 

Since all of these anti-semitic rants and tangents, West has seemingly had a change of heart. 

Ye took to the Wall Street Journal with a full-page ad in late January with the letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt” apologizing to the Jewish community for his actions over the better part of a decade. 

“I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” said West. “I love Jewish people.”

Ye attributed these targeted rants to a failure to diagnose his bipolar disorder, following a car crash in California in October 2002 after leaving the studio and falling asleep at the wheel late at night.

“The focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma,” said West. “The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.”

Ye deems that the most difficult times to have bipolar disorder are the “disconnected moments” that “led to poor judgment” during the diatribes. 

West admitted that he has come to realize that he has hurt his loved ones most of all: Kim Kardashian and his oldest daughter, North West. 

“[They] endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable,” said the rapper.

Ye ended the letter, not asking for sympathy or a “free pass” but to allow him to earn the world’s forgiveness. 

“I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home,” Ye concluded.