Amy Schumer calls out Ye for antisemitic remarks in SNL monologue

Amy Schumer called out Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, for his antisemitic remarks in her Nov. 5 “Saturday Night Live” monologue.

The comedian, 41, called out Ye, 45, in the context of a joke about her husband, Chris Fischer, who she has said has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

“It used to be called Asperger’s, but then they found out — this is true — that Dr. Asperger had Nazi ties, Kanye,” Schumer said of the diagnosis, prompting audience members to laugh and clap.

Asperger’s used to describe a form of autism before it became subsumed under the umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in 2013, according to the organization Autism Speaks.

A 2018 study published in the journal “Molecular Autism” found that, while not a member of the Nazi party, Hans Asperger — the Austrian physician for whom the disorder is named and who first published a study in 1944 identifying the characteristics that would later come to be identified with Asperger’s — “managed to accommodate himself to the Nazi regime...publicly legitimized race hygiene policies including forced sterilizations and, on several occasions, actively cooperated with the child ‘euthanasia’ program.” That cooperation specifically included referring children with disabilities to the Am Spiegelgrund clinic in Vienna, where officials murdered hundreds of children with disabilities in the 1940s, according to the paper.

Several other celebrities also spoke out against antisemitism following Ye’s remarks — which included tweeting that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” — including his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and actresses Reese Witherspoon and Jamie Lee Curtis. His antisemitic comments also led sports brand Adidas, luxury fashion label Balenciaga, Gap and Foot Locker, among others, to end their business relationships with him.

Ye’s comments have also been referenced in other antisemitic messages that appeared within the past few weeks over a Los Angeles freeway and at a Florida-Georgia football game, both of which said: “Kanye is right about the Jews.”

He also faced restrictions to his Instagram and Twitter accounts following his comments. The latter restrictions were subsequently lifted, but Ye no long appears to have an active Twitter account.

A report published this week by NBC News found that the rapper paid a settlement to a former employee who alleged that he had used antisemitic language in the workplace, and that six people who have worked with Ye or witnessed him in professional settings over the past five years said they had heard him praise Adolf Hitler or mention conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

Ye has spoken openly about having bipolar disorder after a 2016 hospitalization. Sometimes, his remarks have included disavowing the diagnosis.

In a 2018 White House meeting with former President Donald Trump, Ye said it was a “misdiagnosis,” saying another doctor had said his mental health issues stemmed from sleep deprivation. In a recent interview with MIT research scientist Lex Fridman, he said that the doctor who diagnosed him was Jewish and suggested the diagnosis was “a control mechanism.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com