KANYE West will likely not face any legal consequences for his Super Bowl ad, which promoted his Yeezy website selling $20 swastika shirts, a legal expert has claimed.
The troubled star appeared in a 15-second commercial during the big game in New Orleans on Sunday, showing him seated in a dentist’s chair.
Kanye West’s bizarre Super Bowl LIX advert was shot on his iPhone while he got new teeth fixed[/caption]
Shopify has since pulled the plug and Kanye West’s website is no longer live[/caption]
Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori put on a spectacle at the 67th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena[/caption]
He told viewers, “So what’s up, guys, I spent, like all the money for the commercial on these new teeth. So once again, I had to shoot it on the iPhone.”
Kanye then mumbled, “Um… um… go to yeezy.com.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, it was pitched as a plug for the Yeezy website, selling its normal apparel when it aired.
But within an hour, Kanye had removed all of the items on the site and replaced them with one; a white T-shirt with a black swastika emblazoned on the front, the symbol of the Nazi Party adopted by Adolf Hitler.
Kanye, who had been ranting on X for hours about being a Nazi, advertised it for sale at just $20.
According to reports, the ad aired around 9.30 p.m. ET in select markets – including on Fox affiliates in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, as well as on a Nexstar-owned Fox station in Missouri.
The Wall Street Journal suggested Kanye tricked the advertising agency USIM, which submitted the commercial to stations the previous Thursday, having signed off on the content.
He is not believed to have told them of his plans to change the products available on his website.
A spokesperson for the network has since said in a statement: “We regret that these commercials aired in these three markets, and we strongly condemn any form of antisemitism.”
I do not expect any legal blowback.”
Attorney Camron Downlatshahi
Attorney Camron Downlatshahi of Los Angeles-based MSD Lawyers deals with high-profile employment cases and believes Kanye may have gotten away with the stunt.
He told The U.S. Sun: “If Ye wanted to sell a product, and those who reviewed the ad saw uncontroversial athletic clothing on his site, there doesn’t seem to be a specific reason to pull this particular ad, because it’s reasonable to assume that his ad was going to be exactly what was initially presented on its face.
“His past offhand remarks, no matter how unhinged, aren’t necessarily a reason to pull an ad that contained nothing questionable — at least in the original version.
“Superbowl ads are a business enterprise first, and there was nothing remarkable in the ad itself — only in what the website was changed to after the fact.”
According to the New York Post, both Fox and Nexstar executives also checked the Yeezy site at that time and found only generic athletic apparel for sale.
Downlatshahi added, “There is nothing harmful, offensive, defamatory, or illegal in the ad itself, so I do not expect any legal blowback.
“Major corporations like Fox or the NFL would seemingly have competent legal counsel that would advise against a frivolous lawsuit.”
But the situation does mean Kanye would likely be blocked from advertising Yeezy during the Super Bowl again.
“If Ye tries to buy another Superbowl ad next year, however, networks will not be able to reasonably say they had no inkling that things could go sideways,” Downlatshahi said.
“They would be wise to be on guard in any dealings with Ye from now on.”
WEBSITE REMOVED
Downlatshahi called the situation “sad that Jewish-Americans have to have this symbol of hate and murder peddled in the form of a T-shirt, in a Superbowl bait-and-switch.”
He went on, “People are rightly offended and rightly reject this.
“Tragically, it’s just one more slap at the Jewish community — the community that has begged people to heed the words ‘Never Again’ for more than half a century.
“But this is just one more piece of evidence that anti-semitism is something we haven’t managed to eradicate.”
Kanye had been posting non-stop on X in the days leading up to the Super Bowl last week, which was the most-viewed in NFL history.
He declared “I’m a Nazi,” called Hitler “so fresh” and stated that he is “never apologizing for my Jewish comments,” after previously being canceled for his anti-semitic remarks.
Referencing the T-shirt on his website, he also shared a photograph of it on X, writing, “I’ve wanted to make this tee shirt for years. My greatest performance art piece thus far.”
Days after he began selling the T-shirt, Shopify pulled the plug and the Yeezy.com website has been down ever since.
He has also deactivated his X account, while his talent agent, Daniel McCartney, announced on Instagram that he’s cut ties with the problematic star.
Kanye first publicly made antisemitic comments in 2022, and was hit with major backlash in Hollywood.
The U.S. Sun recently revealed he visited a Jewish congregation in LA just weeks after those comments, but the leader said he “didn’t want” the rapper’s “publicity stunt.”
Downlatshahi said, “Ye has not only made offensive, controversial, anti-semitic remarks in the past but has also been plausibly described as mentally ill. So none of this lands as new, shocking information that no one could have possibly seen coming.
“Hopefully, people will finally cancel him and take a hard stance against supporting him in any kind of way. His mental health is not an excuse.”
DIVORCE DRAMA
In his latest chaos, Kanye is rumored to have split from wife Bianca Censori.
Kanye moved into the Four Seasons hotel in LA, while Bianca remained in the couple’s $35million Beverly Hills mansion, a source exclusively told The U.S. Sun.
“They have been very up and down from the beginning,” the source claimed.
“Bianca has put up with a lot, but the Hitler and Nazi rants are often too much for her.”
However, Kanye and Bianca’s rep, Milo Yiannopolous, denied the divorce rumors on Thursday night, claiming: “Ye and Bianca are in Los Angeles about to enjoy Valentine’s Day together.”
Kanye West did not attend the big game but caused controversy after his ad was aired[/caption]
Kanye West is seen with ASAP Nast on Instagram showing off his bling teeth[/caption]
