Caitlyn Jenner Says Kanye's Antisemitism 'Has No Part' in MAGA, Urges Rehab

Caitlyn Jenner has stated that Kanye West's antisemitism "has no part" in MAGA, as she said that she is praying for him to enter a rehab program.

West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, has been at the center of a storm of controversy over the past two months, after making a string of antisemitic comments. During an appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars last week, West praised genocidal dictator Adolf Hitler and defended the Nazis.

The musician, who is in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign, has long been a public supporter of former President Donald Trump, and made headlines for sporting one of his distinctive red "Make America Great Again (MAGA)" hats.

Rapper West also sparked controversy when he and far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and documented white supremacist Nick Fuentes last month dined with Trump at the real estate mogul's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

In a series of Truth Social posts defending the meeting, Trump wrote that he "didn't know" who Fuentes was but stopped short of condemning the man who the Southern Poverty Law Center says is a "white nationalist live streamer."

Amid West's PR fallout, the Los Angeles Times published an article bearing the headline: "Kanye West was a beloved generational rapper. Now he's a Hitler apologist and far-right troll. What happened?"

Voicing her objection to the framing of West's political leanings, conservative commentator Tomi Lahren tweeted on Saturday: "Let's get it straight, Kanye is not 'far right,' he's not 'right' or 'conservative' at all.

"He does not & never represented the conservative movement or embodied ANY of our ideals. He is a narcissist & a snake. It angers me some tried to make him a conservative martyr. He's not."

Amid the responses debating Lahren's assertions, Jenner stated that her former son-in-law West, who has spoken in the past about his bipolar diagnosis, is "struggling with mental illness."

Jenner, who was once the stepfather of West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian, also sought to distance the musician's comments from Trump's brand of Republicanism.

"As someone knowing him for years, in my family, I pray for him struggling with mental illness, pray for rehab," Jenner wrote. "But anti-semitism has NO PART IN OUR MAGA AMERICA FIRST MOVEMENT. WE ARE A BIG TENT MOVEMENT! Inexcusable!"

Jenner's tweet comes after she addressed West's controversies during an appearance on Fox News on Friday.

"I've known, obviously, Kanye for a long time," she said. "He's always been very very good to me and I just wish him well. I just want Kanye to do well."

The erstwhile California gubernatorial candidate noted that they had not been in touch recently, "especially since all this stuff has come out."

"I have not talked to him. I just wish him the best. He's got challenges," she went on, adding that she didn't "blame" anyone for being "offended" by his recent statements and said she found them offensive herself.

"Kanye is Kanye," Jenner said. "He's a really nice guy when I've been around him my whole life, or for the last 10 years. I just wish him well, honestly."

During an appearance on Tim Pool's podcast Timcast, which was livestreamed on YouTube on November 28, West revealed that he continues to support Trump—despite stating that the real estate mogul is "known for lying." The rapper did not mention what specifically Trump had lied about.

Taking aim at Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, West said: "Look at Pence, he sold Trump out, you get what I'm saying? I would've never wanted to do anything that hurt Trump. I'm on Trump's side.

"Trump said things that hurt me. He lied about me, but I mean he's known for lying. And when people used to tell me that he's a liar, it's like... You know, I went into the trenches for Trump. That's another conversation."

"There was no one in my position that wore that hat, and all of my surroundings. It exhausted me," West said. "It was like death by a thousand questions."

Despite his comments on Trump, West backed up the Republican politician's assertion that he was not aware of who Fuentes was before meeting him at Mar-a-Lago.

"He was rolling with me. I was impressed with Nick and I was like, 'Just come to the dinner.' And we had [Trump's former Florida campaign director] Karen Giorno pick us up from the airport and there was a lot of back and forth. There was another gentleman named Jamar Montgomery that was with us. He's an engineer at Boeing.

"We sat there [at Mar-a-Lago] and it was like when Trump came in, I said, 'Do you want to sit alone?' He was like, 'No, bring your friends in.' So, a big thing is like, Trump had no idea who Nick Fuentes was."

Newsweek has reached out to representatives of West and Trump for comment.

Update 12/5/22, 7:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add extra information.