Controversial rapper and fashion designer Kanye West took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal to apologize to the Black and Jewish communities for his past actions and comments.
Kanye, 48, came under intense scrutiny a few years ago when he openly expressed his support for Nazi Germany’s leader and dictator, Adolf Hitler. Besides making several antisemitic comments on social media as time went by, he also went as far as selling T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas on his website. In 2025, Kanye went as far as releasing a controversial song titled, Heil Hitler.
Prior to these controversies, Kanye also drew the ire of the Black community when he suggested that slavery was a choice.
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But the College Dropout rapper is blaming his actions on a brain injury that he says severely impacted his mental health and caused his bipolar type-1 diagnosis.
In his lengthy apology in the Wall Street Journal, Kanye stated that he suffered the brain injury from his near-fatal car crash that occurred in 2002. He said that it was initially undetected at the time.
“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,” Kanye stated.
“Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised.”
The 48-year-old said that his condition “wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023.”
“That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis,” he said.
Kanye, who is also known as Ye, then went ahead to provide more insight into bipolar disorder, writing, “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.”
He added: “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 ten to fifteen 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.”
Kanye touched on how his mental condition negatively impacted him, saying that he “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,” Kanye disclosed.
“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.”
The Can’t Tell Me Nothing rapper then expressed regret over his actions and stated that he was “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.”
Despite his past antisemitic comments, Kanye denied being a “Nazi or an antisemite.”
“I love Jewish people,” he stated, before addressing the Black community.
“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,” he said.
Kanye also provided details about a manic episode that he experienced in 2025. “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 anymore,” he wrote.
“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.”
The 48-year-old further touched on how he’s currently coping and being initially misdiagnosed, writing, “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.’”
He continued: “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.”
Kanye concluded: “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.”
