Yeezy.com disappears from the internet after Shopify says Kanye West violated its terms

Kanye West, known as Ye, watches the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers, March 11, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File) (Ashley Landis/AP)

New York — The website that was selling Kanye West’s T-shirts embossed with swastikas has been deactivated by Shopify Tuesday.

A Shopify spokesperson said in a comment to CNN that the “merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them.” Shopify is the back-end platform that powered the T-shirt store on the Yeezy website. The site no longer loads as of Tuesday morning.

“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform,” the Shopify spokesperson added.

West’s website received fresh promotion Sunday evening when he bought a local TV ad during the Super Bowl, appearing to show him sitting at the dentist’s office while recording a 30-second spot on an iPhone to push people to his Yeezy website.

Although it aired during the Super Bowl, it wasn’t a national ad on Fox and only viewers in a few markets saw it, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Fox, which did not respond to CNN’s request for comment, doesn’t have control over all the commercials that air on its affiliates.

Shopify allowed the website to remain online and sell the antisemitic T-shirts for more than 24 hours. That ignited outrage on social media and from the Anti-Defamation League.

“The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century and continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy,” the ADL said in a statement posted on X. “There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior.”

For the past few days, West has spewed virulently antisemitic, homophobic and misogynistic hate speech via his X account to his more than 32 million followers. Celebrities, Jewish groups, anti-hate organizations and other X accounts had pleaded with Elon Musk’s X platform to take action, though Musk himself has courted controversy with his own behavior and comments about the Holocaust.

Some of West’s X posts had visibility limitations placed on them, including those with homophobic statements and another one advocating for violence against Jews. A note attached to some posts said. “This post may violate X’s rules against hateful conduct,” adding that the post “can’t be replied to, shared or liked.”

On Sunday evening, West seemed to deactivate his own account. “I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent, It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” he posted.