AOC, John Legend and Lizzo join Kanye West backlash as rapper stays banned on Twitter and Instagram

Social media platforms took action after he shared anti-semitic posts

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, John Legend and Lizzo have all joined the Kanye West backlash as the rapper remains banned on Twitter and Instagram.

The social media platforms restricted Mr West’s access to his accounts after he shared anti-semitic posts on them over the weekend.

On Saturday, Mr West tweeted that he would soon go to “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”, in an apparent reference to the US military readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

He then alleged that he wasn’t “Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also”.

Before that, Mr West shared a post on Instagram that suggested that rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was being controlled by Jewish people.

When asked by The Independent on Monday afternoon how long Mr West would remain banned, a Twitter spokesperson would only say: “The account was locked for violating Twitter’s policies.”

Meta, the owner of Instagram, refused to comment when contacted by The Independent on Monday.

Meanwhile, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman from New York, branded the rapper’s words “hateful” and “dangerous”.

“There is absolutely no room in this country or world for antisemitism,” she wrote in a tweet on Sunday night.

The lawmaker added: “It is important to see how harmful + dangerous Kanye’s words are – not only to our Jewish brothers, sisters, & siblings, but also to our collective society at large. We must reject this (garbage emoji) wherever we see it.”

John Legend, a former friend of Mr West’s, was also highly critical of the comments.

“Weird how all these “free, independent thinkers” always land at the same old anti blackness and anti semitism,” the musician wrote on Twitter.

The All of Me singer is a former friend of the hip-hop star and has spoken publicly about the end of that friendship.

Mr Legend told The New Yorker magazine in September that Mr West fell out with him when the musician publicly supported Joe Biden in the 2020 election and not the rapper.

“I don’t want to live a life that’s so consumed by politics that it’s the sole determinant of who can be my friend and who can’t. But values matter and character matters and moral compass matters,” he told the magazine.

Musician and producer Jack Antonoff took to Twitter on Monday and wrote, “kanye a little b**ch”.

Mr Antonoff, who is Jewish, is a frequent collaborator with Taylor Swift, who has had her own high-profile run-ins with Mr West over the years.

In 2009, Mr West stormed the stage at the VMAs when Ms Swift went up to collect her award for Best Female Video, beating Beyonce in the process.

The rapper grabbed the microphone from her and said, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish,” he said. “But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”

Josh Gad also took to Twitter to repost Pink’s 2009 tweet about Mr West.

The Disney star re-tweeted the pop star’s tweet about the rapper in which she wrote, “Kanye West is the biggest piece of s**t on earth. Quote me.”

“Thirteen years later, it’s aged like the finest of wines. Love you (Pink),” Mr Gad tweeted on Monday.

Earlier, Lizzo appeared to address West’s comments about her “unhealthy” weight during his interview with right-wing Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“I feel like everybody in America got my motherf***ing name in their motherf***ing mouth for no motherf***ing reason,” Lizzo told a crowd in Toronto last week.

“I’m minding my fat Black beautiful business,” she added before joking, “Can I stay here? Who can I marry for that dual citizenship?”