'Hate-filled, ignorant bigot': Friends star David Schwimmer asks Elon Musk to ban Kanye West from X over antisemitic posts

David Schwimmer, the actor best known for his role as Ross Geller on Friends, has called on X owner Elon Musk to take action against rapper Kanye West, following a series of offensive and antisemitic posts by the musician.

Schwimmer’s plea comes after West, also known as Ye, shared a series of troubling comments about the Jewish community, which included disturbing statements such as "I love Hitler" and "I'm a Nazi."

West’s posts on Friday raised widespread alarm, with one of the posts saying, “I’m never apologising for my Jewish comments.”


His inflammatory rhetoric, which echoed sentiments of hatred and bigotry, was met with widespread condemnation.

'Silence is complicity': David Schwimmer to Elon Musk

Schwimmer, who is Jewish, took to Instagram to call out the situation, urging Musk to step in and remove West from the platform for promoting such “hate-filled, ignorant bile.”

In his Instagram post, Schwimmer wrote: “This is so 2022. We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk.” He further emphasized the harm that West’s 32.7 million followers could cause, pointing out that this number was “twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence.” Schwimmer expressed deep concern over the real-life consequences of West’s words, stating, “His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”

Schwimmer also reflected on the seriousness of West’s comments, adding, "I don't know what's worse, the fact that he identifies as a Nazi (which implies he wants to exterminate ALL marginalised communities including his own) or the fact that there is not sufficient OUTRAGE to remove and ban him from all social media at this point." He ended his post with the stark message: “Silence is complicity.”

West continued to post more offensive remarks after Schwimmer’s comments, intensifying the calls for action. The Campaign Against Antisemitism also joined the chorus of voices demanding that West be removed from X.

The campaign organisation echoed Schwimmer's concerns about the dangerous nature of the rapper’s rhetoric, which had already sparked previous controversies.

Kanye West's troubling X past

West's online behaviour has raised concerns before, too. His X account was suspended in December 2022 after he made antisemitic comments and even praised Hitler.

At the time, Musk justified the suspension, stating that it was for “incitement to violence.” West’s account was briefly unsuspended in July 2023. However, his return to the platform has continued to stir up controversy, especially as his comments appear to escalate in severity.

This isn't the first time West has faced backlash for his inflammatory remarks.

In October 2022, his X account was restricted after making antisemitic statements.

His remarks, which also led to his collaboration with Adidas being severed, resulted in widespread public backlash, but West returned to the platform the following month.