The Real Reasons Jack Antonoff Can't Stand Kanye West
To quote Jay-Z, fellow rapper Kanye "Ye" West has "99 Problems" — and while "a b**ch ain't one" of them, Jack Antonoff is. The musician happens to be one of Taylor Swift's closest companions and collaborators, and he makes no secret of his dislike for West. West hasn't endeared himself to Swifties. His feud with the "Love Story" singer goes way back to the 2009 VMAs when West stormed the stage to interrupt Swift's speech for "Best Female Video." This went on to spark some good old-fashioned revenge ballads, plenty of smack talking in the media, countless snake emojis on social, and a he-said, she-said over whether Swift permitted West to call her "that b***h" in his 2016 song, "Famous." (Spoiler: he didn't. We think.)
Regardless, there's "Bad Blood" between Swift and West, and her posse dislikes West on principle, Antonoff included. So when West posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets in 2022, Antonoff was among the first to condemn the rapper. It wouldn't be the only time the pair would publicly clash, either. In 2024, West announced his intention to drop part two of his "Vultures" trilogy with Ty Dolla Sign on the same day as Antonoff's band's planned album drop. Coincidence? Maybe. But the "Vultures" drop has been pushed back several months, and Antonoff's launch has been set for a while.
Clearly, there are a lot of complicated feelings between West and Antonoff, the latter of whom even admitted that West crops up in talks with his therapist.
Jack Antonoff denounced Kanye West's anti-Semitic comments
In 2018, Jack Antonoff admitted that he felt a certain kind of way after Kanye West began voicing his divisive political opinions and acting out as a result of his bipolar disorder. "What I said to my therapist is it hurts," Antonoff said at the New York Festival (via Vulture). "It hurt like Woody Allen hurt. There are people that have changed you artistically and they turn out ... not the best guy, kind of a d***k. People on a gut level let you down in a way that you never thought possible."
Unfortunately for Antonoff, West continued to let him down in big ways. In 2022, West shocked the music industry by wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show. He followed that up with an anti-Semitic rant on X, formerly known as Twitter, which was condemned by Hollywood A-listers, including Antonoff, who identifies as Jewish. While some celebrities expounded on the problematic nature of West's tweets, Antonoff was more succinct. "Kanye a little b***h," he wrote. The social media platform eventually scrubbed West's posts for violating its policies, and the rapper was dropped by many of his business partnerships, so Antonoff wasn't alone in his distaste for West.
Some people pointed to West's mental state for explanation, but this didn't excuse his behavior. Clinical psychologist Carla Manly told USA Today that West's "very strong beliefs on religion or politics" are "separate from the mental health diagnosis."
Did Kanye West sabotage Jack Antonoff?
A year on from Kanye West's anti-Semitic outburst, his problematic behavior continues. The rapper raised eyebrows after tying the knot with Bianca Censori, and the couple outraged locals with Censori's revealing outfits during a trip to Italy. But that's neither here nor there for Jack Antonoff. What the musician did take issue with is West's "Vultures" album drop, which coincides with the date that his band, Bleachers, plans to release their self-titled album. "Kanye on bleachers release date is hilarious little cry baby b****," Antonoff tweeted in January 2024. It's one of many times he's referred to West as such on X; in fact, one fan posted a collage of all the times Antonoff used that slur to insult West on the social media platform.
Fans were divided in the comments section, with one person declaring, "THIS MADE MY DAY." Meanwhile, another fan expressed their opinion that "a bleachers album will NEVER sell more than a ye album." A third said, "Swifties will be streaming bleachers."
Swifties are indeed likely to side with Antonoff against West. FWIW, Antonoff produced Swift's tenth studio album, "Midnights," which throws shade at West and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, at least, according to some fans. Something tells us that Antonoff isn't going to kiss and make up with West anytime soon, even while Swift does her best to take the high road.