The online store of rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was removed by the e-commerce platform Shopify due to violation of the terms of use. For several days, the only product on the site was a white T-shirt with a black swastika, a symbol of Nazi Germany.
In a statement to NBC News, Shopify said: "All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify."
Shopify, which is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, did not specify which rule was violated. However, its terms of service allow it to restrict "to restrict products or activities that we deem unsafe, inappropriate, or offensive."
This decision by Shopify came a few days after Ye used ads during the Super Bowl to drive traffic to his site. Over the weekend, the site began selling a T-shirt with a swastika on it. The incident came amid a series of anti-Semitic posts by Ye on the social network X (formerly known as Twitter), including statements that he called himself a Nazi. His X account was deactivated on Monday.
Ye's representative, Milo Yiannopoulos, described the artist as "an intergenerational artist and icon who continues to redefine the limits of creativity and free expression." Yiannopoulos also added that Ye himself had temporarily deactivated his X account.
Ye, once considered one of the most influential figures in hip-hop and fashion, has faced serious criticism in recent years for his provocative statements and actions. His Yeezy brand, originally launched in collaboration with Adidas, suffered a significant blow in 2022 when the German sports giant terminated its contract with him over anti-Semitic statements.
Cloudflare, the company that provides hosting services for Ye, and GoDaddy, the registrar of the domain associated with the site, did not respond to requests for comment. It is not yet known whether they will continue to provide services for the Ye online store if it is relaunched on another platform.