JEFFERSON CITY — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Schmitt tweeted and then deleted support for Kanye West on Tuesday night, three days after the rapper was locked out of Twitter and Instagram over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.
“America needs a @kanyewest @KidRock tour. Let’s go!,†the tweet said, generating heated criticism from Schmitt’s Democratic opponent, Trudy Busch Valentine.
“It reveals a great deal about Eric Schmitt’s character that tonight he is openly embracing those who spew vile antisemitism,†Valentine tweeted in response. “This is both dangerous and appalling. Missouri deserves so much better.â€
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Schmitt, after the original post was deleted, later said he wasn’t aware of West’s most recent comments, which included a tweet saying he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.â€
“I wasn’t aware of the recent comments and was commenting on recent interview with Tucker Carlson where he called out left wing hypocrisy,†Schmitt said in a statement.
The controversy comes with less than a month before Missouri voters head to the polls to choose who will replace U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican who is retiring.
Schmitt, the current state attorney general and a former state treasurer and senator, is leading in the polls in a state that has become reliably Republican. Valentine, heir to the Anheuser-Busch brewing fortune, is a political newcomer.
“The heiress Valentine is desperate for any distraction she can create from her being shill for the Schumer-Biden agenda to raise our taxes, supercharge inflation and allow unfettered illegal immigration,†Schmitt said in the statement.
West, who is now legally known as Ye, drew a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League for his “death con 3†tweet, which called the tweet “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period.â€
“There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,†a statement said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.