Kanye West’s website removed over sale of swastika T-shirts days after rapper’s vile X rant
Kanye West’s Yeezy website has been taken offline after the rapper used a Super Bowl commercial to promote T-shirts featuring a swastika symbol.
The controversial merchandise appeared on the site following West’s advertisement during Sunday’s Super Bowl, which aired on Fox-owned stations in Los Angeles.
Shopify, the e-commerce platform that hosted the website, has removed the online store after determining it violated their terms of service.
Visitors to Yeezy.com are now greeted with error messages stating “something went wrong” and “this store is unavailable”, whilst the domain name is being offered for sale at £79,692.
The Super Bowl advertisement was notably low-budget, having been filmed on an iPhone with West appearing to sit in a dentist’s chair.
In the 30-second spot, West directed viewers to visit Yeezy.com. The commercial aired on three Fox-owned stations, including KTTV Los Angeles.
Sources told Variety the advertisement had passed through legal approval as there were no standards issues with the spot itself.
However, after the commercial aired, West immediately changed the website’s content to display only the controversial T-shirt.
The white T-shirts, priced at £16, featured a black swastika symbol on the front and became the only item available for purchase on the Yeezy website.
The merchandise listing appeared without any accompanying text or explanation, marked only with the designation “HH-01”.
The controversial item’s appearance on the site prompted immediate backlash against both West and Shopify.
The e-commerce platform quickly faced criticism for initially hosting West’s website as it sold the swastika shirt.
Shopify issued a statement explaining their decision to remove West’s website from their platform.
“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify,” the company told Variety.
West’s representatives have not responded to requests for comment regarding the website’s removal.
The e-commerce platform’s swift action came as part of their enforcement of platform rules regarding authentic commerce practices.
The website removal follows West’s recent deactivation from social media platform X after a series of vile posts.
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The rapper had declared “I’m a Nazi” and praised Hitler as “so fresh” in the days leading up to his X account suspension.
His posts, which included racist, antisemitic, misogynistic and pornographic content, drew widespread condemnation from anti-hate organisations.
Both the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee spoke out against West’s social media activity.
Actor David Schwimmer was among the celebrities who called on X owner Elon Musk to remove West from the platform.
The social media platform ultimately took action by deactivating West’s account following the string of inflammatory posts.