Hip-hop artist, Kanye West, has recently released a message to the public through The Wall Street Journal to apologize for his controversial past actions. The title of West’s apology is “To Those I’ve Hurt,” which was released on Jan. 26, 2026. Frequently in 2022, West tweeted highly antisemitic posts dehumanizing Jewish people. Shortly after, he released a t-shirt with a swastika imprinted on it and sold it on his official store, YEEZY. Shortly after, the store was shut down for breaking Shopify’s terms of service. These actions also caused Adidas and West’s partnership for YEEZY to end, as they would no longer be partnering with West to produce YEEZY products.

West’s highly anticipated album, “BULLY,” set to be released on March 20, 2026, is expected to talk about the situation. The title of the album suggests that West is the bully for promoting hate speech and nazism, as suggested in some singles of the album.

In the message, he mentions his near-fatal car crash on Oct. 23, 2003, which damaged his right frontal lobe, an area mainly responsible for impulse control, emotional regulation and decision-making. Not much later, West was diagnosed with Type-1 Bipolar Disorder. 

“Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,” West said. 

He claimed that he’s not a nazi or antisematic, even stating his love towards Jewish people, not truly wanting to hurt them. He also apologized to the black community due to his disrespectful statements against them regarding the controversial “White Lives Matter” t-shirts seen in his Yeezy fashion show in Paris. 

From February to May, 2025, West fell into a manic episode where he posted derogatory statements on X. He made posts that degraded Judaism, women and the LGBTQ+ community. In late May, he asked for forgiveness for his previous actions and claimed that he would be done with antisemitism.

Later on, West finds out he’s in the autism spectrum, and was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. The first time he mentioned it was in Justin Laboy’s podcast.

“My wife took me [to a doctor] because she said, ‘Something about your personality doesn’t feel like it’s bipolar, I’ve seen bipolar before,’ and come to find out, it’s really a case of autism that I have,” West said.

West has since stated that he has gotten help for the things he was going through; he has received medication, therapy, exercise. He claims that he will stick to being positive and making meaningful music and art. There is some irony within that statement, considering that with his last two albums, “Vultures 1” and “Vultures 2,” he blatantly admitted to using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce and create vocals for him. Also in the singles of his upcoming album, “BULLY,” AI is used. Fans suspect that this might have been why the album has been delayed several times; there could be changes being made to the album.

“I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home,” West said. 

The paper has since made original fans to support him once again and others who didn’t like him, now are able to understand what he was going through. West’s decision to publish a paper was a great decision as he has been freed from past self and controversies.