Donald Glover should know better than to platform Kanye West, one of the world's most famous antisemites. But that's exactly what he did earlier this week.
The musician and TV star also known as Childish Gambino previewed the pair's collaborative track "Say Less" during his Gilga Radio stream on Monday, April 22.
Glover has long been exalted for his thoughtful contributions to American pop culture, particularly those that unpack the discrimination Black Americans face.
It should be shocking that the man behind insightful works like Atlanta and "This Is America" is collaborating with a known Nazi sympathizer. The lack of outrage shows how broadly acceptable antisemitism has become in the U.S.
The rapper and TV star also known as Donald Glover has tarnished his otherwise stellar legacy.
West's long string of antisemitic comments began with him threatening to go "death con 3" on Jewish people in 2022. It peaked with a Hitler-praising appearance on The Alex Jones Show. He's apologized multiple times, but regularly takes actions that indicate his feelings haven't changed.
West's feature on "Say Less" literally includes a line about the rapper not being remorseful for his past conduct: "I rather have no regrets, but yo my agent said 'Yo, say less.'"
It's bad but more understandable when figures like Ty Dolla $ign and Playboi Carti work with West. These overgrown fanboys don't have the star power to become household names in their own right.
Glover is in a completely different situation. He's arguably more accomplished than West. Hitching himself to the Chicago rapper's wagon won't meaningfully advance his career.
Glover is a highly influential thought leader, and with great power comes great responsibility.
But the rapper couldn't contain his fanboy tendencies during a recent interview with Maya Erskine, the co-star of his Amazon Prime show Mr. & Mrs. Smith. When asked about the greatest rapper of all time, he picked West.
"I know that’s controversial," Glover said. "But I feel like we would not have any of the rappers we have now without him."
Perhaps, but does that override West saying that he "loves" Hitler? It shouldn't, and it almost surely wouldn't if the rapper focused his vitriol on the other minority groups who were persecuted in Nazi Germany.
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Glover really should know better. There's even a scene in the fifth episode of Mr. & Mrs. Smith that explains the roots of antisemitic violence with a searing joke.
Toby Hellinger, the character played by Ron Perlman, jokes that Hitler is still alive. He claims to have met the dictator and his wife Eva Braun at a bar in Argentina. The genocidal maniac says he's planning another Holocaust.
"We're going to be bigger than ever. This time we're going to kill 12 million Jews and six acrobats," Hitler says.
"Why six acrobats?" Hellinger asks.
"You see Eva, I told you nobody cares about the Jews," the dictator replies.
Glover needs to get the memo. The two albums he's working on will be the final releases under his Childish Gambino stage name. If this is the way he wants to go out, then good riddance. What a horrible way to end an otherwise stellar music career.
Representatives for Glover did not respond to Q's requests for comment.
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