Kanye West Is in Hot Water Over Daughter North

Kanye "Ye" West has been slammed online after footage emerged of him rapping explicit lyrics as his 10-year-old daughter, North, stood alongside him at his recent album listening party.

Rapper and businessman West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, has reemerged on the social scene after several months of maintaining a relatively low profile following a dramatic fall from grace after his string of antisemitic remarks on social media last year.

After a number of events, that included appearances at the festivities surrounding last month's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, West this week threw a listening party in Miami for his new album Vultures, a collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign was set to be released on Friday, but is no longer preloaded on Apple Music.

Video footage has been shared on social media of West wearing a black version of a Ku Klux Klan-style pointed hood as he rapped a controversial line from his track "Vultures," which also features fellow rappers Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Durk.

The track makes mention of West's 2022 controversy in the lyrics, which includes the line "How am I antisemitic? I just f***** a Jewish b****."

In the video footage, which was posted on X, formerly Twitter, West and Ty Dolla $ign were joined onstage by a host of collaborators, including Offset, Kodak Black, and Chris Brown. West's eldest daughter, North, was also onstage and was seen on video dancing as the controversial line was repeated.

West shares four children with his ex-wife Kardashian, including daughters North, 10, and Chicago, 5, and sons Saint, 8, and Psalm, 4. Saint and Chicago were also among the attendees at the listening party, according to The Guardian.

North also appears on the album, rapping on a track: "I love it here / We're gonna take over another year / It's your bestie Miss, Miss Westie / Don't try to test me / It's gonna get messy / Just, just bless me, bless me / It's your bestie Miss, Miss Westie."

As Reddit users discussed North's enthusiastic performance of her lyrics at the listening party, a number expressed their disapproval of the youngster being present as her father's explicit lyrics were performed.

"You know what's NOT CUTE," wrote one detractor. "Kanye in a KKK mask ranting about F****** a Jewish B**** in front of his three children under the age of 10 while other dudes standing next to them smoking dope."

"In first 3 minutes of this PeRfOrMANce I heard 'am I sexual,' "t******,' and 'one in the pink and one in the stink' in front of his daughter. How artistic, how genius," said another.

"Kanye has basically what amounts to Nazi imagery all over the promotion of this album and has his daughter on a song," wrote another. "Why would you ever subject your child to the scrutiny that is obviously going to come from any project, but ESPECIALLY this one. I am beside myself."

"I cannot get past that North is 10, on stage with her father who is wearing that, grown men smoking weed around her, and openly being exposed to Kayne's jibber jabber garbage lyrics," complained another. "Ugh this is so f****** sad."

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Kardashian via email for comment.

Over on X, a number of fans defended West, with one writing of his Klan-inspired hood: "I love that he tries to change the meaning of hurtful symbols. Symbols can evolve, not a lot of people get it, but it's amazing and brave and I very much respect it."

"This man lives 20 years ahead of time," said another of West. "Only 1 percent of people understand what he is doing today, for a better tomorrow."

Another proposed that "Ye is to politics what Enid Blyton was to literature."

In 2022, West directed a number of posts at his ex-wife, ranging from lamenting the demise of their relationship to questioning her parenting over her decision to allow North to have an account on social media platform TikTok.

West's musical return comes after a controversial year. Late last year, he shared an image on X of a swastika blended with the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism. He captioned the post "YE24 LOVE EVERYONE." The post was removed from the platform shortly after it was shared on December 1, 2022.

West made multiple derogatory and "threatening" remarks toward Jews, prompting StopAntisemitism.org to name him "Antisemite of the Year" in 2022, the advocacy and watchdog organization said on X.

StopAntisemitism cited West's antisemitic views, noting the rapper's praise of Adolf Hitler during a December 1 appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' show on the InfoWars website.

While on the far-right show, West said that he "liked" Hitler and that Nazis "did good things too."

West's comments on the segment brought a swift backlash, including from X, which suspended his account in response to the controversy and West's December 1 post. His account was officially banned on December 2, just a few months after it had been reinstated from a previous incident.

X had locked West's account a few months before the December suspension when he posted on October 10: "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."

West appeared to have written "death con 3" in reference to the U.S. military defense alert state known as DEFCON.

The Grammy-winning musician said at the time that he "actually can't be Anti-Semitic because Black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

West's October 10 post led to his losing a number of business relationships, including his lucrative partnership with Adidas, with whom he collaborated on his popular Yeezy fashion brand.

A spokesperson for Adidas previously told Newsweek: "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

Update 12/15/23, 8:41 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.