Celebs

Kanye West’s Honorary Degree Revoked Over ‘Anti-Black’ & ‘Antisemitic’ Comments

<p>The School of the Art Institute of Chicago &lpar;SAIC&rpar; is joining the growing list of entities that are taking a public stand against <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;kanye-west-accuses-elon-musk-of-being-genetic-hybrid-after-twitter-suspension&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Kanye West<&sol;a> and his slew of controversies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">SAIC President&colon; &&num;8216&semi;Our Identities &amp&semi; Life Experiences Are Under Attack&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>News recently broke that the Chicago-based art school would be revoking Kanye&&num;8217&semi;s honorary degree&comma; which he received back in 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement obtained by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dam&period;tmz&period;com&sol;document&sol;ae&sol;o&sol;2022&sol;12&sol;08&sol;ae447155a2984be4a0de3f82788e7a6a&period;pdf" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">TMZ<&sol;a>&comma; Elissa Tenny—president of SAIC—said that Ye &&num;8220&semi;exhibited disturbing behaviors and made dangerous statements that do not align with our community values&&num;8221&semi; after being presented the honor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"page" title&equals;"Page 1">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"layoutArea">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"column">&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;His anti-Black&comma; antisemitic&comma; and incendiary statements&comma; particularly those directed at Black and Jewish communities&comma; are disgusting and condemnable&period; His words and actions have been painful for our entire community and&comma; particularly&comma; for those of us who feel that our identities and life experiences are under attack&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>In response to Ye&&num;8217&semi;s antics&comma; the institution ultimately decided to rescind the honorary degree&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"layoutArea">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"column">&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;While the School grants honorary degrees to individuals based on their contributions to art and culture as of a moment in time&comma; his actions do not align with SAIC&&num;8217&semi;s mission and values&period; After hearing from many of you&comma; and conferring with the Board of Governors&comma; the honorary degree awarded to Kanye West has been rescinded&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Tenny also noted that SAIC had never rescinded an honorary degree before&comma; though administrators feel the measure is &&num;8220&semi;appropriate&&num;8221&semi; in this situation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"page" title&equals;"Page 1">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"layoutArea">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"column">&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;There is no precedent in SAIC’s more than 80 years of granting honorary degrees for rescinding one&comma; and as an institution of higher education&comma; we know we must uphold a higher standard in protecting freedom of expression&period; Though we firmly believe in the right to express a diversity of opinions and beliefs&comma; the severity of his behavior made it clear that rescinding this honor was appropriate&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1600924276726452224" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Kanye West Recently Caught Heat Over Hitler Comments<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Ye definitely hasn&&num;8217&semi;t been a stranger to backlash over the past few years&comma; especially considering his comments about <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;kanye-west-apologizes-for-the-comments-he-made-about-slavery&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">slavery<&sol;a> and association with unpopular figures like Donald Trump and Candace Owens &lpar;to name just a couple of controversies&rpar;&period; However&comma; he seemingly upped the ante last week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;kanye-sees-good-things-about-hitler-on-heels-of-north-west-wearing-star-of-david-shirt&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">The Shade Room<&sol;a> <&sol;em>previously reported&comma; Kanye West made some questionable statements about Hitler during his appearance on <em>Infowars<&sol;em>&period; In fact&comma; he outright said that he &&num;8220&semi;see&lbrack;s&rsqb; good things about Hitler&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;I see good things about Hitler also&period; I love everyone&period; Jewish people are not going to tell me you can love us&comma; and you can love what we&&num;8217&semi;re doing to you with the contracts&comma; and you can love what we&&num;8217&semi;re pushing with the pornography&period; But this guy that invented highways&comma; invented the very microphone that I use as a musician&comma; you can&&num;8217&semi;t say out loud that this person ever did anything good&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;m done with that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Kanye West went on to share&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table—especially Hitler&period;&&num;8221&semi; He also declared&comma; &&num;8220&semi;There&&num;8217&semi;s a lot of things that I love about Hitler&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1598374795556622368" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1598410740431470592" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ye&&num;8217&semi;s comments ultimately led <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nypost&period;com&sol;2022&sol;12&sol;07&sol;even-alex-jones-disgusted-by-kanye-wests-hitler-fetish&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Alex Jones<&sol;a>&comma; a far-right conspiracy theorist&comma; to distance himself from the rapper&period; Additionally&comma; further antics led Elon Musk to suspend West&&num;8217&semi;s Twitter account&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Do you agree with SAIC&&num;8217&semi;s decision to snatch back Kanye West&&num;8217&semi;s honorary degree&quest; 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Nick Fenley

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