Kanye West, the world’s most infamous antisemite, has dropped a trailer for his “Vultures” project.
The film was made by a Montreal artist named Jon Rafman, who is Jewish, and who was accused on social media of such serious sexual misconduct that the New York Times reported the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC cancelled his show in 2020. (Two other museums cancelled shows also. Currently Rafman does have projects at other Canadian galleries.)
Only Kanye could come up with this combination. I’ve emailed Rafman to ask him about the fact that he’s Jewish. How could he be involved with West?
Rafman did issue a statement about his other accusations, denying everything. The link has since been removed from the web. He also filed a legal complaint against the newspaper and Twitter account that first reported the sexual misconduct complaints.
“Vultures” is an audio and visual experience. The original audio, still widely available, contains an antisemitic lyric that I’m not going to repeat here. But it’s as disgusting as anything West has said in the past. The album may be released this week, or may not.
Rafman obviously has his own issues and we can’t judge them. The museum showings, however, were never rescheduled. As for Rafman taking on a job with Kanye West, that’s another story. According to his bio, Rafman was educated in Jewish schools. It’s not possible that he’s missed all the controversies surrounding West and his antisemitism.
As for West hiring an artist with serious accusations of sexual misconduct, well, why not? West is currently suffering criticism on social for featuring photos of his presumed wife, Bianca Censori, nearly naked.
