The Coalition of Hindus of North America (COHNA) has called on Ye, aka Kanye West, and The Wall Street Journal, a US news outlet, to revise and correct a paid advertisement containing inaccurate and offensive remarks about the swastika.

The Hindu American community’s reiterated serious calls for correction came after the controversial rapper took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal to apologise for his previous antisemitic behaviour. “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” he wrote. “I love Jewish people.”

West claimed that his “fractured state” while grappling with bipolar disorder led him to gravitate “toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika,” while alluding to Adolf Hitler’s appropriation of the ancient religious symbol to represent the Nazi Party.

Over the years, the “hijacking” of the swastika has led many to view it as a perverted symbol of hate. However, in its firm statement, COHNA issued a firm reminder, while calling out the popular, yet incorrect, habit of associating an auspicious sacred sign with a graphic representation of intolerance.

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Hindu Americans call out Kanye West’s Wall Street Journal ad

Directly referencing Ye’s remarks about the swastika being the “most destructive symbol,” COHNA said, “This statement insults nearly two billion Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and adherents of other indigenous faiths worldwide for whom the Swastika is a sacred symbol.”

“For thousands of years, the Swastika has represented auspiciousness, good fortune, and well-being in Dharmic traditions. It remains central to our religious ceremonies, festivals, and sacred spaces.”

The Coalition of Hindus of North America further asserted that Hitler never used the word “Swastika” for his ‘symbol of hate,’ as he called it the Hakenkreuz (“hooked cross” in German).

COHNA’s Jan 26 statement challenging Ye’s equation of the Swastika with Hakenkreuz didn’t mark the first time the group has publicly demanded the “Heartless” rapper to make corrections.

“In February 2025, when he was selling T-shirts with the Hakenkreuz, we reminded Shopify, the media, and the public that Hitler’s symbol is not the Swastika,” said Nikunj Trivedi, president of CoHNA. “It is deeply disappointing that a year later, he and esteemed institutions like the Wall Street Journal continue to perpetuate this harmful misinformation that threatens the religious freedom of billions of people to practice their faith and use their sacred symbols.”

The complaint was openly highlighted in an X post.

Even Japanese Buddhist priest Dr TK Nakagaki argued in his book ‘The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler’s Cross: Rescuing a Symbol of Peace From the Forces of Hate’ that Hitler called the symbol “Hakenkreuz” in his autobiographic manifesto ‘Mein Kampf.’

On top of that, state legislations in Virginia and California have also formally recognised the distinction between the “Swastika” and the “Nazi Hakenkreuz.” The Canadian Parliament also followed suit in December 2025.

What is Kanye West’s WSJ apology about?

The Yeezy founder apology for his prior antisemitic streak was shaped in the form of an open letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt.” It was presented as a full-page advertisement, which was paid for by the Yeezy brand, in the Jan 26 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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West began his piece by recounting the infamous 2002 car accident that “broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain.” He further said that the nterior neurological damage “went unnoticed” until three years ago. “That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis,” he added.

He detailed how the mental illness spurred a manic state, which led him to believe “everyone else is overreacting,” while feeling he was “seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.”

In recent years, the many instances of his antisemitic spiral have even fuelled legal actions against him. One such involved one of his former Yeezy employees suing him in 2025. The ex-employee alleged that Ye had likened himself to Hitler while threatening her because she was Jewish. She further claimed that West fired her immediately after she reported the alleged incident to her supervisor.

In his WSJ ad, West claims to have “lost touch with reality,” adding he “cannot recall” many of those instances of his “reckless behaviour,” alluding to his association with merchandise sales featuring the hateful symbol, which he incorrectly calls the ‘swastika.’

“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people,” he added in his lengthy open letter ad.