Antisemitic displays hung off the 405 Freeway amid Kanye Twitter rant

Last Saturday, banners reading “honk if you know” and “Kanye is right about the Jews” hung over the 405 freeway in front of a small group of demonstrators with their arms raised in what appeared to be a Nazi salute.

The demonstration came after a string of antisemitic tweets and television appearances by rapper Ye, who had previously changed his name from Kanye West. Many of his remarks promoted hate and violence against Jewish people while also spreading conspiracy theories about the community.

A tweet shared by West October 8 read, “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.”

“When you’ve got somebody so prominent saying horrible things online, that makes the crazy person who’s doing Nazi salutes on the 405 feel more comfortable. The rhetoric they used was about Kanye being right,” Rabbi Dov Wagner, director of Chabad, the Jewish community center at USC, said.

Los Angeles’ Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Jeffrey Abrams says that ADL’s Center on Extremism knows the people who hung the banner on the 405 very well. According to Abrams, the same group is responsible for a number of antisemitic fliers which were scattered throughout the west side of Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, Westwood and Brentwood.

However, Abrams believes that West’s remarks have been the leading cause of the recent emboldening of such groups.

“Kanye West has tens of millions of fans and followers,” Abrams said. “Now, groups like the one that hung the banner are trying to leverage the support of those people. They’re trying to leverage the support of companies that are partners with Kanye West, like The Gap and Adidas … who continue to be in business with someone who’s spouting this antisemitic rhetoric.”

When asked about local law enforcement’s response to the antisemitic incidents, Abrams pointed to the First Amendment as a limitation faced in properly combating hate speech.

“Unfortunately, law enforcement prosecution is not going to be the way out of this problem and certainly not the sole solution. It really comes down to the people,” Abrams said. “There’s no question that there are far more people of good faith, far more people who care about their fellow humans than these perpetrators of hate, so we need to use those numbers in our favor.”

Abrams also praised the Los Angeles Police Department and the Beverly Hills Police Department for their response to the antisemitic fliers distributed in recent weeks, saying they devoted a great deal of resources and want to do everything in their legal power to stop these acts.

Saturday’s incident caught the attention of District Attorney George Gascon, who condemned the act on Twitter, writing, “We cannot tolerate the #Antisemitism that was on full display [Saturday] on an LA Fwy. … I stand with the Jewish community in condemning this disgusting behavior.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti also shared a tweet in support of the Jewish community. “We condemn this weekend’s [antisemitic] incidents. Jewish Angelenos should always feel safe. There is no place for discrimination or prejudice in Los Angeles.”