GOP Senate hopeful deletes his praise of Kanye West after backlash over anti-Semitic comments

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Eric Schmitt tweeted Tuesday night in praising Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, then quickly deleted it as criticism rolled in over the rapper’s recent anti-semitic comments.

“America needs a @kanyewest @KidRock tour,” Schmitt, Missouri’s attorney general, wrote Tuesday night. “Let’s go!”

The tweet drew backlash since it was published just days after Ye was removed from Twitter and Instagram over anti-semitic posts, including saying he was going “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

Earlier this month, Ye created controversy over an appearance at Paris Fashion Week where he wore a shirt that said “White Lives Matter.”

Schmitt’s Democratic rival, Anheuser-Busch heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, was among those who condemned Schmitt’s now-deleted tweet.

“It reveals a great deal about Eric Schmitt’s character that tonight he is openly embracing those who spew vile anti-semitism,” she wrote on Twitter. “This is both dangerous and appalling. Missouri deserves so much better.”

In a statement released to the media, Schmitt denies knowing about Ye’s anti-semitic comments.

“Regarding my tweet on Ye and Kid Rock: I like their music,” Schmitt said in the statement. “Typically, they’re against the privileged elites like my opponent The Heiress. But, I don’t condone everything they say.”

Schmitt said he wasn’t aware of the anti-semitic comments and posted his tweet in reaction to Ye’s recent interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, where Schmitt says he “called out left wing hypocrisy.”

In the two-part interview with Carlson after the Paris fashion week controversy, Ye said he thought wearing the “white lives matter” shirt was “funny” and “obvious.” In unaired clips that were reported later, Ye shared with Carlson the unfounded conspiracy theory that Planned Parenthood was founded “with the KKK to control the Jew population.”

“When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are,” Ye said. “This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.”

He later talked about schools that celebrate Kwanzaa, saying “I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering.”

In his statement Wednesday morning, Schmitt criticized Bush Valentine over her support from Missouri Democratic U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, who has been highly critical of Israel, which she has referred to as an “apartheid state.” He said her attention to his tweet was an attempt to distract voters from “her being a shill for the Schumer-Biden agenda.”

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