Kanye West dismisses claims his apology was meant to boost his career

Kanye West has pushed back against suggestions that his recent apology was meant to restart or rescue his career.

The rapper drew attention earlier this week after releasing a full page apology that directly confronted his past antisemitic and racist statements.

Soon after the message appeared in The Wall Street Journal, speculation spread online that the timing was deliberate, with critics claiming it lined up with the rollout of his forthcoming album Bully and was designed to repair his public standing before new music arrived.

Speaking in a fresh interview with Vanity Fair, Kanye rejected the idea that his career needed any form of revival.

"It's my understanding that I was in the top 10 most listened-to artists overall in the U.S. on Spotify in 2025, and last week and most days as well," he said. "My upcoming album, Bully, is currently one of the most anticipated pre-saves of any album on Spotify too."

He also pointed to his back catalogue, adding, "My 2007 album, Graduation, was also the most listened to and streamed hip-hop album of 2025."

The Gold Digger artist went on to say that the impact of his previous comments had been sitting heavily with him on a personal level.

"This, for me, as evidenced by the latter, isn't about reviving my commerciality," he told the publication. "This is because these remorseful feelings were so heavy on my heart and weighing on my spirit."

Kanye then directly acknowledged the groups who were hurt by his earlier remarks.

"I owe a huge apology once again for everything that I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities in particular," he said. "All of it went too far. I look at wreckage of my episode and realise that this isn't who I am."

In the apology released on Monday, Kanye linked some of his past behaviour to a serious car crash 25 years ago, which he said caused damage to his frontal lobe. He also explained that he felt he had "lost touch with reality" after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016.

The rapper has repeatedly found himself at the centre of backlash over antisemitic statements since 2022. Tensions escalated further last year when he began selling T shirts featuring the swastika symbol.