Why Kanye West's Jewish Comments Got Him Locked on Twitter and Instagram

Kanye West's comments about Jewish people led to both his Instagram and Twitter accounts being locked at the weekend.

The musician and designer, 45, returned to Twitter on October 8 after a two-year absence, but by October 10 the account had been restricted.

Twitter locked West's account after he posted a tweet that "violated the service's policies against hate speech."

West posted in a series of messages: "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.

"The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

West, who shares four children with former partner Kim Kardashian, appears to have written "death con 3" in reference to the U.S. military defense alert state known as DEFCON.

The tweet has since been removed and West's account was locked, though it has since returned. In the tweet's place is a message reading: "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules."

West's Instagram account was also reportedly restricted by social media company Meta after he made an antisemitic post on Friday, October 8.

On October 3 West faced heavy criticism for wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt to his Yeezy brand fashion show at Paris Fashion Week.

Sean "Diddy" Combs, 52, posted a video on Instagram on October 6 in response to the shirt, saying he didn't support it. West then responded by appearing to suggest Diddy was controlled by Jewish people.

At the time of writing West's Instagram account has also returned.

Newsweek has contacted representatives for West and Instagram for comment.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed reports and told Newsweek: "The account was locked for violating Twitter's policies."

Following the Paris Fashion Week and "White Lives Matter" shirt controversy, West made several controversial comments in a Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson last week.

These remarks included pointing to abortion as an example of the "genocide of the Black race," while wearing a lanyard with a picture of an ultrasound on it.

When asked by Carlson why he was wearing the lanyard, West said: "It represents life. I'm pro-life. I don't care about people's responses. I care about the fact that there's more Black babies being aborted than born in New York City at this point. That 50 percent of Black death in America is abortion."

As Newsweek previously reported, it's unclear where this statistic came from but we could not find a study to back up his claim.

West also discussed his ex-wife Kardashian in the interview, commented on Lizzo's weight, and said Kris Jenner's partner, Corey Gamble, and Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who critiqued West's work, were "practically made in a laboratory."

Meanwhile, during his return to Twitter on October 8, West teased a future, second, presidential run, writing simply "2024" with a photo of a black hat with the year written on it.

This marked the first Twitter post West had made since the day after Election Day 2020, in which he also teased running for president in 2024.