Kanye West has taken out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising for his antisemitic behaviour. “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” he wrote. “I love Jewish people.”

In a letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt”, he attributed his inflammatory actions, including making profoundly offensive statements and selling T-shirts bearing swastikas, to his bipolar-1 disorder, which he said he developed as a result of medical oversight failing to diagnose a frontal-lobe injury sustained in a car crash in 2002.

West – now legally known as Ye – said that as a result of the disorder, he “lost touch with reality”, prompting him to gravitate towards “the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika”.

Despite a previous apology to the Jewish community in 2023, in February 2025, West started selling the swastika T-shirts, prompting the commerce platform Shopify to take down his webstore. In May, he released a song called Heil Hitler, which sampled a speech by Hitler and praised the Nazi leader. The song was banned in Germany owing to laws against hate speech and extremism, but went viral online. Last week, rightwing influencers including Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes were filmed making Nazi salutes to the song as it played in a Miami Beach nightclub. West also engaged in Holocaust-denial.

“One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall – that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience,” he wrote. “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though.”

West traced his condition back to the car accident in 2002. He had his jaw wired shut in the aftermath, which inspired his debut single, that year’s Through the Wire. “At the time, the focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling and the immediate physical trauma,” he wrote. “The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.”

He said that his brain injury wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. “That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis”, which he received in 2016.

West wrote that in early 2025, he experienced a four-month manic episode “psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life”, which caused him to experience suicidal ideation. He wrote that after hitting rock bottom in recent months, his wife, the Australian architect and performance artist Bianca Censori, whom he married in 2022, encouraged him to get help.

West wrote candidly about his mental health experiences, and highlighted the mortality rate – “on par with severe heart disease, type 1 diabetes, HIV and cancer” – associated with his condition. “Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.

“The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable.”

He confessed to treating his loved ones – presumably among them his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and particularly their eldest daughter, North West – “the worst”, writing that they “endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable”.

West also apologised to the Black community. In recent years, he made comments suggesting that slavery was “a choice”, wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan “white lives matter” and appropriated the Confederate flag. “The Black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.”

He said that he had found solace in Reddit forums reading of other people’s experiences with manic and depressive episodes. “I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing ‘symptoms of autism’.”

West wrote that medication, therapy, exercise and “clean living” had helped him find clarity, and encouraged him to channel his efforts into making “positive, meaningful art”.

West’s current slated album is known as Bully. Its release has been delayed several times, and at one stage was scheduled for 30 January.

“I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness,” West concluded. “I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”

Ye’s letter in full

To Those I’ve Hurt:

Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.

Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.

Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.

Once people label you as “crazy,” you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by 10 to 15 years on average, and a 2x-3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type 1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer – all lethal and fatal if left untreated.

The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable.

I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.

In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments - many of which I still cannot recall - that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.

To the black community - which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.

In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here any more.

Having bipolar disorder is notable state of constant mental illness. When you go into a manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely “normal”. And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.

I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism”.

My words as a leader in my community have global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.

As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design and other new ideas to help the world.

I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”

With love,

Ye

• In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978