A Jewish advocacy group has strongly condemned a “vile” video of an unknown person performing what appears to be fascist salute in the parking lot of the U.S.-owned Chick-fil-A restaurant in Burlington, Ont.
The video, shared on X by controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, features someone riding a motorized scooter with flashing lights and a video monitor. The person comes to a stop before twice doing what appears to be a Nazi salute while Ye’s new song Heil Hitler plays on the monitor.
The video, which was posted just after 6 a.m. ET on May 14, had garnered more than two million views before it was deleted on Wednesday.
CBC News has viewed the video and was able to match it with the Burlington location through Google Maps.
Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy, said it’s alarming for somebody in Canada to be creating content like this, which is “clearly antisemitic.”
“It raises a tremendous amount of red flags at a time when antisemitism is on the rise in this country and we are grappling with a crisis of antisemitism,” Robertson told CBC Hamilton.
“For Mr. West to then lend credence to this content by sharing it on his X account is simply deplorable. Mr. West has demonstrated through his recent actions that he cares not for the well-being of others, the well-being of the Jewish community, and that he only cares to incite against the Jewish community, and that’s exactly what he’s done here.”
Ye’s song, Heil Hitler, was released just over a week ago. The song, praising Adolf Hitler, was posted on social media platforms and music streaming services. Most services removed the antisemitic track within days, but it had already been viewed and listened to by millions.
The song and video for Heil Hitler, which glorifies the Nazi leader and includes a sample from a Hitler speech, remains on Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Lyndon George, executive director of the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre, says social media platforms like X have a responsibility to take down and stop the spread of hateful content, exemplified by Ye’s song and exhibited in “the racist video” that was filmed in Burlington, Ont.
“The song’s chorus says it all and the video showing the strident double Nazi salute leaves no doubt,” George wrote in an email to CBC News. “Kanye West’s most recent social media post on X glorifying Nazism and praising Hitler, normalizes hate, racism and antisemitism and perpetuates fascist behaviour.”
CBC News attempted to contact X Corp., the social media platform’s parent company, for comment, but did not get a response.
Meanwhile, Robertson said Ye’s Heil Hitler song “is vile,” adding that the video shot in Ontario is also something that should be condemned.
“This is not representative of Canadian values. This is conduct that should be denounced in the strongest possible form and that should not be tolerated in our society,” Robertson added.
The song and video come as antisemitism appears to be on the rise in Canada, with Statistics Canada reporting a 71 per cent increase in hate crimes targeting the Jewish population between 2022 and 2023.
It also comes a few months after the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies put out a report warning of the rising prominence of young people who are attracted to violent ideologies, with recruiters using innocuous social media and gaming platforms like Discord, Instagram, Roblox and TikTok as breeding grounds for hate.
CBC News has also reached out to Chick-fil-A and Halton Regional Police Service for comment but did not hear back. A woman who said she’s one of the managers at the Burlington restaurant said they are not authorized to speak about the issue.
