Kanye West's Music And Streams Take A Major Hit Amid Rapper's Anti-Semitism

Airplay and streams for Kanye West's music have plummeted in the wake of the rapper's anti-Semitic comments. The Donda crooner had shared hate posts targeted at Jews on social media platforms, Twitter and Instagram, which resulted in his suspension from both platforms.

His behavior has sparked debates about his mental health and resulted in several celebrities criticizing him on their social media pages.

The rapper has also seen increased financial losses in addition to the decline in music sales and streams after a number of his longtime sponsors, including Adidas and Balenciaga, severed connections with him recently.

Read below for more details.

Per Variety, Ye's music has suffered a significant hit, as seen by the recent decline in streams and airplay in the past few days. The rapper experienced these losses in the wake of his anti-Semitic comments on Twitter and Instagram. He has also garnered the ire of celebrities and fans for making those posts.

Reports from Luminate, a firm that collates essential data on the entertainment industry, revealed that streaming of the rapper's albums is down 23% (through October 20) in the United States. Ye's songs have also seen a decline in airplay, roughly down by 13%.

In some cases, the Donda crooner has received no airplay on certain radio stations, including Los Angeles' KIIS-FM. He has also suffered losses in every other tracked category, including planned and on-demand streaming, physical and digital sales, etc.

On a global level, Ye sales and streams have also achieved an unprecedented low, decreasing by 17.5% for sales and 2% for streams.

While Ye has been known for making controversial comments, his recent anti-Semitic posts compelled more individuals to take a stand against his rants and call for his cancellation across all platforms.

Those calls grew louder in the wake of antisemitic demonstrators gathering on a 405 Freeway overpass in L.A. The incident, which happened on October 23, featured the protesters hanging up banners that lauded Ye for spewing hateful comments against the Jews.

One of the celebrities who voiced out against Ye's antics was Jessica Seinfeld. She shared a post on her page that read, "I support my Jewish friends and the Jewish people."

The statement has since gone viral, as other celebrities like Julianne Moore, Amy Schumer, The Kardashians, Amanda Kloots, and Kathy Hilton all reposted it on their social media handle.

Some of Ye's collaborators have already heeded the calls to cancel him in the past few days. The rapper's high-profile deal with French fashion house Balenciaga was terminated, and pictures of him on their site were also removed.

Adidas, the German sneaker giant whose collaboration with Ye's company, Yeezy, has been estimated to be worth billions, had initially said that their partnership was "under review" in the wake of the anti-Semitic comments. However, on Tuesday, they publicly stated that they had now severed connections with the Yeezy founder.

They announced the decision in a statement on their website, emphasizing that they do not "tolerate" his recent antics.

It read, "Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

Ye has also been hit with other losses, which are sure to put a deep hole in his pockets. Firms like JP Morgan, popular clothing retailer Gap, and music agency CAA have ceased to do business with the rapper amid recent controversies.

Additionally, MRC studio, who helmed a documentary about Ye, announced that those plans had been dropped despite the work being finished and scheduled for release.

Ye has already been tearing up relationships in the music industry before facing this recent bout of media condemnation.

Last spring, his unpredictable behavior lost him the chance to perform at the Grammy Awards, as the showrunners withdrew the initial invitation he was given.

The rapper then declined to headline this year's Coachella festival within two weeks before the start of the event. Ye's most recent record was only released on a bespoke $200 speaker system and not on any streaming services.