Kanye’s descent into toxic madness

Sneed: Rapper’s mental problems are no excuse for his antisemitic ravings

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Kanye West, shown at an NBA game in March, has made repeated harsh statements about Jews. He also has offered praise for Adolf Hitler.

AP file photo

One word.

A new word. What a word. Toxicate. 

I don’t personally know Kanye West … now known as Ye.

I know he was married to and is now divorced from Kim Kardashian ... and says wacko things in line with crazy rapper reality.

It’s pretty apparent Ye is now “toxicating,” continuing his toxic, hateful antisemitic rants in an inflated bigger-than-biker jacket; encasing himself in a puffed-up, dark Michelin Man costume; hiding his entire head in a mask during an interview last Thursday with Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones, who looked like he had just encountered a bridge too far even for him. 

Raised partly in Chicago and China, a child of divorce raised by his mother, who was a professor, and his father, a photographer and church counselor, Kanye’s name apparently means “The Only One.” 

The rapper, named on a list of 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine in 2005, is now traveling faster than the antisemitic swill he is spewing.

Kanye West’s battle with mental issues must not be an excuse for spewing antisemitism.

Let’s hope Ye’s repertoire includes a fast exit into the hands of help. 

Oh, those royals ...

If it’s not one blimey bother after another.

Consider the case of the late Queen Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, 83, who landed on the royal hot seat last week amid noise of racist behavior in the royal household.

Crikey! The royal household? Not since Meghan Markle moved into Buckingham Palace as a royal wife have headlines erupted like hot press popovers.  

Swept into apology and sent bye-bye after “rattling” Ngozi Fulani, who is Black and Britain-born, Hussey left her 30-year career behind — while Fulani took to Twitter blistering “Lady SH” for heckling her about where she was from during a special charity event at Buckingham Palace.

Here’s what is known about “Lady SH.”

  •   She married a Brit named Marmaduke.
  •  She is the daughter of the late 12th Earl Waldegrave.
  •  She is the godmother of Prince William, the heir to the English throne.
  •  She was the person who accompanied the queen to her late husband’s funeral during the period of COVID pandemic lockdown.

Is Lady Hussey out of royal life forever?

Who knows? Heck … I don’t even know a man named Marmaduke.

Personal and political …

The royals bump heads! U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and member of the clan referred to by historians as America’s version of the royal family, met Britain’s Prince William at the airport in Boston on Friday. She presented the prince with a photo of her father at Buckingham Palace in 1961 when he met Queen Elizabeth, William’s grandmother, who died this year.

Behind the scenes …

Hmmmm: Former 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith tells Sneed one reason she decided to endorse PR guru Wendi Taylor Nations as her replacement rather than Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s personal pick has something to do with guts.

  •   The back shot: “Wendi is a workhorse, not a show horse, and I’ve known her from the neighborhood for years as I know many of the candidates,” Smith told Sneed.
  •  The buck shot: “But I can’t forget how Wendi personally stood up at a community meeting and called out a developer for his dishonest practices to the applause of the neighbors,” said Smith. “She told him he was hurting the neighborhood and that she wouldn’t stand for it. The developer got arrested not long after and served time for fraud.” 

The Tax Ax …

Mama Mariaaaa! Our mailboxes may have been stuffed last week with late second-installment tax bills due at year’s end, but not to worry: Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas — whose office fast-tracked taxpayers’ ability to pay online — tells Sneed more than 60,000 taxpayers had already paid $412 million in taxes online by the end of the day Friday. 

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas plays piano at her office Christmas party.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas plays piano at her office Christmas party.

Provided

  •  The bank shot: Then the irrepressible Pappas saddled a piano bench and tossed her exhausted elves an office Christmas party surrounded by a display of 90 “Christmas Trees from around the World.” 

Sneedlings…

Lest we forget: Ebony Jimenez, 16, and Madalyn Marmolejo, 13, lit the Christmas tree at the Chicago Police Memorial wall this week. Tragically, their fathers — police officers Samuel Jimenez and Eduardo Marmolejo — died in the line of duty ... Photographer/architect Tom Rossiter, whose photo exhibit starred at the 2021 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, is exhibiting his “Beyond Architecture” photos beginning Dec. 8 at Primitive, 130 N. Jefferson. His work is the result of a “wonder walk” around the world … Saturday’s birthdays: comedian Tiffany Haddish, 43; actor Brendan Fraser, 54, and singer Ozzy Osbourne, 74. Sunday’s birthdays: model Tyra Banks, 49; rapper Jay-Z, 53, and actor Jeff Bridges, 73. And belated happy birthdays to Dr. Sakina Kadakia and Leslie Hindman.  

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