Kanye West's vow to 'go death con 3' on Jews and his antisemitism controversy, explained

(JTA) — It started with a shirt and ended in a conflagration over antisemitism and Republican politics.

Such is the extended news cycle over multiple antisemitic comments during the last week by Kanye West, the artist and provocateur who prefers to go by Ye. On Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, Instagram and Twitter, West made a string of comments reflecting a range of antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.

The spree culminated with West’s vow to “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.”

DEFCON is an acronym that refers to the state of alert of America’s militaries; “death con 3” appears to be a m...