Attorney General Todd Rokita came to the defense of rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) after the latter was locked out of social media accounts for anti-Semitic comments and criticized for wearing a t-shirt saying “White Lives Matter.” 

In a tweet, Rokita shared an MSNBC story criticizing Ye for his decision to wear the shirt to Paris fashion week. Rokita tweeted, “The constant hypocrisy from the media is at an all-time high. They have now gone after Kanye for his new fashion line, his independent thinking, & for having opposing thoughts from the norm of Hollywood.” 

The Southern Poverty Law Center considers White Lives Matter “a neo-Nazi group that is growing into a movement.” 

The day before Rokita defended Ye, the controversial rapper was banned from Instagram for claiming that the rapper Diddy was being controlled by Jewish people. In a since-deleted tweet, Ye threatened to go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” claiming, “you guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” In a subsequent post, Ye asked, “who do you think created cancel culture?”  Defcon is a defense readiness system used by the U.S. military. 

Six hours after Rokita’s initial Tweet in support of Ye, the attorney general tweeted a new statement saying, “My post was specifically and clearly aimed at the hypocrisy of the media and Hollywood elites, not anything to do with other comments. I have an obvious, clear and substantial Congressional and public record of being 100% supportive of the Jewish community and Israel.”  

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said that Rokita was unaware of Ye’s anti-Semitic comments at the time he articulated his defense and that his communication team did not publish the tweet until a day and a half after.

This story has been updated to include comment from Todd Rokita’s office.