The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has revoked the honorary degree of the controversial American rapper and record producer Kanye West. In response to the rap star’s months-long campaign of hate speech, the university reportedly decided to revoke the honorary doctorate degree it had awarded him in 2015.
In a statement, SAIC administrators stated, “The School of the Art Institute of Chicago condemns and repudiates Kanye West’s (also known as Ye) anti-Black, antisemitic, racist, and dangerous statements, particularly those aimed at Black and Jewish communities.”
“Ye’s actions do not align with SAIC’s mission and values, and we’ve rescinded his honorary degree.”
In the last two weeks, SAIC has been under increasing pressure from students who began a change.org petition requesting that West’s degree be revoked.
So far, over 4,100 people have signed the petition. In 2015, Kanye West was given an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as stated in the petition’s summary.
This honour gives a person who has been vocally anti-Semitic in recent months the stamp of approval and prestige of the school.
It is bad to let Ye, as he is now known, continue to use the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to legitimise bigotry and violence, regardless of his achievements before he received this medal.
The Yeezy boss’s anti-Semitic tweets and other social media posts have been a source of controversy since early October.
In an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones last week, West defended Adolf Hitler, saying that he saw “positive things” in the former Nazi Germany leader.
Elon Musk tweeted on the same day that Ye’s account had been banned for inciting violence, which is against Twitter’s rules.
As an added insult, Ye sold “White Lives Matter” t-shirts and said that George Floyd died from fentanyl usage rather than the nine minutes of force used by ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder.
The 45-year-old billionaire was dismissed by many companies, including Adidas and Gap, in the wake of mounting criticism of his divisive comments. Additionally, Adidas has begun a probe into his actions.
