Despite what he emoted in the much-discussed Wall Street Journal apology ad from January, Kanye West has done pretty much none of the moral soul-searching or action that many, including me, called for. “It’s not easy to lead the discussion when you’re fighting for your life against mental illness,” I wrote in an open letter on January 27th. “But some of us have taken up the task, regardless of the state of our health. You weren’t ready to put the bipolar conversation on your back then. I wonder if you’re finally ready now.”
For some, including mental health experts, the apology represented authenticity and progress. “When I read it, I honestly felt sad about it,” Houston-based licensed psychologist Dr. Bianca Jones told me last month. “It seemed sincere.” As someone who lives with bipolar type 1, like Ye, I agree with Dr. Jones. The ad was a major first step in making amends for his actions. But sincerity without follow-through is just optics — something West has long understood how to weaponize.
In February 2025, West started selling T-shirts with a swastika emblazoned on them. This came less than two years after he apologized to the Jewish community for previous transgressions. Within months of selling the shirts, Ye released a song called “Heil Hitler,” which praised and sampled a speech by the Nazi leader. While the song was banned in Germany, it went viral online and inspired dickhead influencers like Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes.
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With regards to the Black community, Ye has famously made jaw-dropping comments like slavery was “a choice,” and worn a T-shirt that bore the slogan “white lives matter.” West has also appropriated the Confederate flag, a symbol recognized for its deep anti-Blackness. In 2024, one of his former employees filed a lawsuit that alleged West often treated Black employees worse than white ones, berating them on several occasions. And to be clear, these are just a few of his many transgressions over the last two decades.
In the two full months since the ad was published, Kanye has not come forward with any tangible ideas to unburden the bipolar, Jewish, or Black communities. Instead, he reminded us that he doesn’t need to apologize to be a top artist; he’s Kanye fucking West. “It’s my understanding that I was in the top 10 most listened-to artists overall in the US on Spotify in 2025, and last week and most days as well,” West told Vanity Fair on January 27th. “My upcoming album, Bully, is currently one of the most anticipated pre-saves of any album on Spotify, too.”
Most of us with good sense noticed that Bully was initially set to be released the week of the apology ad. Ye insisted that this was unintentional (how could we be so stupid to assume?) and coincidentally pushed the album back to March 28th. Between the ad and the release date, Ye has been extraordinarily busy making plans and making moves. He can’t do that alone.
On March 9th, Ye announced a one-night concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, set for April 3rd. When artist pre-sale tickets went live on Ticketmaster the following day, over one million people were in the queue, leading Ye to announce a second show for April 1st. Tickets to Ye’s first US show in five years ranged from $125 for the cheapest seats to $595 for floor.
Beyond L.A., Ye will bring his performances to numerous countries: He played Mexico City on January 30th and 31st, and will play New Delhi on May 23rd, and Arnhem, Netherlands on June 6th and 8th. (For both Mexico City and Arnhem, tickets for the initial date sold out so quickly that they added a second.)