Apple Music joins a growing list of companies distancing themselves from Kanye West following his anti-Semitic comments made online in early October.
as the media say Billboard, the streaming music giant has announced that it has removed the “Kanye West Essentials” playlist, which includes the American rapper’s most famous songs, from its platform. The rest of his discography is still available to listen to.
“Your music is not against our rules”
On October 9, Kanye West posted on Instagram screenshots of a conversation with rapper Diddy, who criticized the “White Lives Matter” t-shirt the artist wore during Paris Fashion Week.
In the caption of his now-deleted post, Kanye West wrote, “I’ll use you as an example to show the Jews who told you to call me that no one can threaten me or influence me.”
The rapper then said on Twitter that he was going to attack Jews. A publication that has since been deleted by social network for violating the platform rules.
Several companies have since condemned Kanye West’s comments, including Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, who however clarified that he would not remove the rapper’s music from his platform.
“This is about their music and their music is not against our rules. The decision is up to their record company, which can decide whether to perform or not,” Daniel Ek told Reuters.
As Reuters recalls, no removal request has yet come from Def Jam Recordings, owned by Universal Music Group, which owns the rights to Kanye West’s recordings for the period from 2002 to 2016.
In the past, Spotify had already taken sanctions against certain artists: in 2018, the company removed from your playlists the pieces of R. Kelly, then accused of sexual abuse, while leaving them accessible to Internet users who were looking for them. But he has yet to mention a similar move regarding Kanye West.
Source: BFM TV
