Bill Maher revealed that he sat down with Kanye West for a two-hour interview on his “Club Random” podcast, but he will not release the episode due to the disgraced rapper’s bigoted views against Jews.
“I thought it was going to be a learning moment.” Maher said on a Feb. 5 episode of “TMZ Investigates” centered on West, titled “Unhinged but Unstoppable.”
“We were here for two hours. By the way, we had an amazing, fun time,” Maher added. “He’s a very charming antisemite. And by the way, he’s not the only one in America who feels that way. It’s not like the Jews are universally loved except for Kanye West.”
Earlier in the interview, Maher said of West: “The problem, I think, is that he appeals mostly — of course he’s a rock star — to young people. They don’t know much and they surely don’t know much about the Middle East or Jews. So the combination of Kanye out there — I feel like he was helpful for spreading the fertilizer, and I do mean fertilizer, for this idea that Israel and the Jews are the worst people in the world.”
TMZ founder Harvey Levin suggested to Maher that “you could say the same thing about Hitler,” in regards to West emboldening other people to voice their antisemitic views. “A lot of people were thinking what he was thinking, but in Kanye’s case, the fact that he’s saying it out loud gives other people permission to say it too, right?” Levin asked.
“Yes, exactly,” Maher said. “That’s why I wouldn’t air that episode, because I’m not going to contribute to this.”
A representative for West did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Over the last year and a half, West has become a prominent antisemite, writing on X/Twitter that he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people” and saying on Alex Jones’ show that people should “stop dissing the Nazis,” among dozens of other troubling comments. A Rolling Stone report from December 2022 alleged that West has idolized Adolf Hitler for two decades. He recently rapped, “How I’m antisemitic? I just fucked a Jewish bitch” on his song “Vultures,” and repeatedly peddled antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews’ control over hospitals and financial institutions. In December 2023, West posted an apology to the Jewish people, written in Hebrew.
After his initial antisemitic outbursts, West was dropped by his agency, CAA, and lost his fashion partnerships with Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap. Foot Locker and TJ Maxx also ceased selling apparel from West’s Yeezy brand.