Kanye West isn’t going to apologize again.
During a Grammys 2025 after-party, the “Runaway” rapper—who has gone viral in the past for hateful and antisemitic rhetoric—explained that he was barred from attending President Donald Trump’s second inauguration last month due to the administration wanting him to issue “another” apology.
“It’s this censorship stigma,” Kanye—who attended the Grammys red carpet with wife Bianca Censori—said in a video shared to a big screen at his afterparty with Justin LaBoy, reportedly from an upcoming episode of the Respectfully Justin podcast, per TMZ. “I was gonna go to the inauguration but they told me I had to write another apology.”
As the rapper put it, Trump’s administration had asked him to come forward with another statement saying he wasn’t antisemitic, but Kanye mispronounced the word several times during the explanation for why he wouldn’t—joking about confusing it with “antisympathetic.”
Kanye’s comments about missing the Jan. 20 Inauguration come over a year after he apologized to the Jewish community for an antisemitic rant that took place during promotion for his Vultures album.