Nick Cave defends fondness of Kanye West’s music despite rapper’s anti-Semitic views: “I endeavour to seek beauty wherever it presents itself”

nme.com:

Nick Cave has defended his fondness of Kanye West‘s music despite the rapper’s controversial anti-Semitic views – see what Cave had to say below.Last month, Cave revealed that he wanted Kanye West’s ‘I Am God’ to be played at his funeral.

Just a few days later, Kanye West kicked off a sandstorm of drama and controversy, including the rapper rescinding his apology to the Jewish community for his past anti-Semitic remarks, and went on to declare himself as “a Nazi” and write “I love Hitler”, as well as selling a white T-shirt with a large swastika on the chest on his website, listed as “HH-01” – possibly a reference to the “Heil Hitler” chant.Following the weeks of controversy cooked up by Kanye West, Nick Cave has responded to fan letters through his The Red Hand Files blog.

Referencing Cave’s pick of ‘I Am God’ to be played at his funeral, a fan asked: “How the hell can you listen to the song without seeing the scum of a human being that Kanye has become?”Nick Cave responded, first expressing that he doesn’t condone Ye’s controversial views: “A lot of time and energy has been spent explaining the evil of Nazism, the harm of antisemitism, why it is wrong to sell t-shirts emblazoned with swastikas and why it is unacceptable to coerce one’s girlfriend into standing naked on the red carpet at the Grammys.

On that matter, it seems, we can all find some common ground. I agree.”He then noted that he doesn’t believe in separating the art from the artist: “The idea of an artist being divorced from their art is absurd.