For a large part of his career, Kanye West has been notorious for speaking out and posting online, seemingly without filtering himself or thinking about what he’s saying. In recent years especially, his online presence and popularity have continued to grow. 

At first, it was more funny than it was concerning. People would read the things West posted on his social media and laugh, thinking there was no way he could be saying these things seriously. But over the past few months, his online outbursts have only gotten worse. West has publicly struggled with mental health issues in the past, including when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016. 

He spent weeks slandering his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and her boyfriend at the time, Pete Davidson. He posted videos and captions under pictures in all-caps, saying horrible things about the both of them and the way the children were being taken care of. He posted multiple times on Instagram, captioning images of Davidson with comments about his clothes and tattoos and Davidson’s relationship with Kardashian. Even if the things he said were true, it isn’t a matter to be dealt with in the public eye, especially when you have small children at home who will undoubtedly hear about it later. 

“There’s a skete lurking in every dirty ass alley waiting to help destroy your family and walk around in calvin kleins around your children,” West captioned a photo.  

Most recently, he posted an extremely antisemitic and aggressive Tweet, saying he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” which banned him from both Twitter and Instagram. He’s now purchased the app Parler — a social media platform similar to Twitter, often used by people who have been banned from mainstream media apps. The app is known for being endorsed and used by Donald Trump, who encouraged his supporters to use the app so they couldn’t be silenced anymore. 

This purchase is potentially dangerous, given that the purpose of the app is to allow people to say and promote whatever they want. There is no way to keep the feed free of aggressive posts, like the things West has been uploading. It  becomes far too easy for dangerous people to gain a following on an app where they can push harmful ideas. This is not the first time West has been seen saying something extremely out of pocket about minorities and other groups of people. He’s been seen wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt, made countless antisemitic comments, voiced conspiracy theories about the murder of George Floyd and made sexual comments about other artists like Taylor Swift in interviews and in his music. 

West has also been in the spotlight for his struggles with mental health in recent years, specifically since  he was diagnosed with  bipolar disorder. The ways he’s failed to properly treat and care for himself is  seen in the media and could potentially cause major problems to those watching at home. West is setting the example that mental health issues can be made light of or put to the side. He is inadvertently showing his fans that there is no need to seek help or treatment for their own mental health struggles.

West constantly talks about how highly he views himself and how talented he is, romanticizing the poor treatment of his mental health. He does so by going untreated for a mental illness that affects both himself and those around him, but continues to talk about how glamorous his life is by flaunting his wealth.  isIt would be one thing if he was getting the proper help for his mental health and posting about how great his life is while he was receiving help. But, he makes it seem like no help is needed and he’s better off not getting any; meanwhile, he hurts and scares those around him, like his ex-wife and children. He  uses his fame not only to pretend that he’s the picture of perfection, but to show the world that life is amazing, even without putting in the effort to take care of himself. 

In the past, West was able to joke about mental health because of his fame — until now.In the aftermath of his antisemitic Tweet, many people have finally been able to see how truly unfiltered West is and what’s really going through his mind. He was momentarily unable to get away with what he was doing before by being banned from some social media apps. Now that he owns an uncensored social media platform, he will undoubtedly be right back where he started. People are finally starting to see the way he views the world and how problematic it can be, but with his fresh ability to go uncensored, there isn’t much to be done about what he can and cannot post online. 

The best we can do as an audience is to hold celebrities accountable in situations like these. It’s Important to understand that being famous doesn’t give anyone the authority to do or say whatever they want. We cannot allow this type of behavior, especially not from those who have so much influence.