Jonah Hill hopes “everyone can heal” from Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks.
The Wolf of Wall Street actor, who is Jewish, spoke about the Stronger rapper during a recent appearance on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show because his new directorial feature, Outcome, features a joke about West’s controversy.
During the interview, Hill insisted he has “no beef” with the hip-hop star, despite him making a “bizarre” Instagram post in 2023 in which he declared that Hill’s performance in 21 Jump Street made him “like Jewish people again”.
“I felt that he did this bizarre public thing to kind of make up, like, ‘It’s all good cause I love Jonah,'” Hill said of the post. “(It) just sat with me in a way that it’s, like, all good. I love him still, and I hope whatever happens, he can heal or whatever, and everyone can heal from all that stuff… I hope he can heal and make it right with the people he needs to make it right (with) in the Jewish community.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Superbad actor tried to reconcile his love for West as an artist and his antisemitic comments and behaviour over the past few years.
“I love the Kanye that I’ve met over the years. I love the artist. I think there is no artist I probably love more across any genre ever. I think he is probably the greatest artist ever to live. And he thinks that,” Hill noted with a laugh. “He’s a genius, and the stuff with the hate stuff sucks. What are you going to say? It sucks, no matter who you are, to hear that.”
Hill explained that he put the West joke in Outcome as a comedic response to the Heartless hitmaker’s 21 Jump Street post.
“I just put that in there like, yo, you’re going to put the 21 Jump Street poster up there and say you don’t hate Jews anymore? That’s pretty wild,” he shared. “I’m gonna put a picture of you (in the film) saying that hating Jews helps your career. Obviously, that’s a joke on my part. It doesn’t help your career, but it’s me just having fun. I’m a comedian.”
West issued an apology for his controversial behaviour in a full-page advert in The Wall Street Journal in January. However, he is currently facing backlash for headlining all three nights of Wireless Festival in London in July.
Addressing the outrage over his booking, the musician has offered to meet members of the Jewish community in the U.K.
Outcome, starring Hill, Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz, will be released on Apple TV on Friday.
