HH Hollywood Charge: The Song, Lawsuit, and Apology

Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” song is a track the artist, now known as Ye, uploaded to X on May 8, 2025, that chants the Nazi salute as a refrain and samples a 1935 Adolf Hitler speech. Most major platforms removed it; X kept it up, where it drew over 6.5 million views within a day. The song itself prompted no criminal charges, but it sits inside a wider “HH” branding pattern that has produced one active workplace harassment lawsuit against Ye, a lost anti-SLAPP motion, and a $76,245 fee award against him.

What the Song Is

Ye posted the music video on VE Day, the anniversary of the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany. The day before, he had posted an English translation of the Hitler speech he sampled, delivered at the Krupp Factory in Germany in 1935.¹

The track belongs to an album titled Cuck, previously called WW3, which was never officially released. Fans later pooled $999 in a Discord group buy to obtain leaked files.² A companion track, “WW3,” also contains lyrics glorifying Nazis.³

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the release. CEO Jim Berk called it “hate speech” and criticized X for enabling its distribution. Ye defended the track on X and said he was being censored unfairly compared with other artists.⁴

Where You Can and Can’t Find It

Spotify removed “Heil Hitler” after an Anti-Defamation League petition campaign, though users worked around the ban by uploading the song to Spotify’s podcast section or posting re-recorded covers. “WW3” remained on Spotify as of mid-May 2025.³

YouTube said it was actively removing the content and that accounts linked to Ye were ineligible for monetization. Reddit removed the song and posts celebrating its message, citing rules against hate speech and antisemitism. SoundCloud took down versions Ye linked directly, but NBC News identified 27 reuploads or remixes still on the platform.³

X was the outlier. The video remained live with over 6.5 million views as of May 9, 2025, and the company did not respond to requests for comment. Ye then directed followers to Scrybe, a separate streaming app, as a hub for his catalog. No court or government agency ordered the song banned. Every takedown was a private company enforcing its own terms.³

Why No One Was Arrested for Singing It

About two weeks after the release, an unidentified group of men gathered on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and sang the lyrics as a pop-up choir. It is unknown whether they had any connection to Ye. After being told to leave, they relocated to a Buffalo Wild Wings and reportedly continued singing outside.⁵⁶ No arrests, charges, or public law enforcement statements followed.

That outcome tracks the law. The U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously in Matal v. Tam (2017) that there is no hate-speech exception to the First Amendment. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that restricting speech because it expresses offensive ideas “strikes at the heart of the First Amendment,” adding that “the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate.'”⁷

California distinguishes hate incidents from hate crimes. The California Attorney General’s office defines a hate incident as hate-motivated behavior that does not amount to a crime, including name-calling, distributing hate messages, or using slurs. A hate crime requires an underlying criminal act motivated by the victim’s real or perceived membership in a protected group.⁸ Under California Penal Code § 422.6, speech alone cannot support a conviction unless it threatens violence against a specific person or group and the speaker has the apparent ability to carry out the threat.⁹

Singing a commercial song on a public sidewalk doesn’t clear that bar. The narrow unprotected categories are true threats, incitement to imminent lawless action, and face-to-face fighting words aimed at a specific person. Offensive political or ideological speech falls outside them.¹⁰ Hollywood Boulevard also does not require a permit for street performing, and sidewalk singing is protected under the Los Angeles Municipal Code if the performer does not block pedestrians, exceed noise limits, or vend commercially within 500 feet of the Walk of Fame.¹¹

The Broader “HH” Pattern

The song is part of a longer sequence. In February 2025, Ye ran a Super Bowl ad pointing viewers to Yeezy.com, where a $20 t-shirt bearing a black swastika was labeled “HH-01.” Shopify removed the store on February 11, 2025, saying the merchant had violated its terms and could not show it was engaged in “authentic commerce.”¹²¹³

In the same stretch, Ye posted on X: “I love Hitler. I’m a Nazi” and “Hitler was sooooo fresh.”¹⁴ His talent agency, 33 & West, dropped him. A representative cited his “harmful and hateful remarks.”¹⁵

The Jane Doe Harassment Lawsuit

The central active case against Ye came from a former Yeezy marketing specialist suing as “Jane Doe” in Los Angeles Superior Court in February 2025. She alleged that during the 2024 promotion of Vultures 1, Ye subjected her to antisemitic and misogynistic abuse, including texts reading “Hail Hitler,” “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler,” and “I Am A Nazi.” She said she was fired after complaining.¹⁵

Ye’s attorneys, Andrew and Katie Cherkasky, argued the communications were “creative directives, conceptual drafts, provocative imagery, marketing strategy and staffing decisions” protected as artistic expression under the First Amendment. A declaration from Milo Yiannopoulos called the texts part of “ongoing artistic expression and performance.”¹⁶

Judge Theresa Traber rejected the argument in June 2025, denying Ye’s motion to strike under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. She called the filing “frivolous” and “rife with defects, specious arguments, and misstatements of law,” noting that accepting it would let any employer defeat a discrimination case by labeling its conduct artistic.¹⁶ In September 2025, Judge Nicholas Daum ordered Ye to pay the plaintiff $76,245 in attorneys’ fees for the failed motion.¹⁷

Ye’s team appealed in February 2026, challenging the refusal to dismiss.¹⁸ The case was stayed pending that appeal, with the plaintiff’s response expected in May 2026. If the appeal fails, the case moves to discovery and trial.¹⁷

Other Litigation in the Mix

Separate from the harassment case, Adidas shareholders brought a class action alleging the company misled investors about risks tied to its Yeezy partnership before ending the deal in October 2022. On December 3, 2025, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal, finding plaintiffs had not shown Adidas executives knew of or recklessly disregarded the fallout before it occurred.¹⁹

Ye also faces an active jury trial over a California home he bought for $57.3 million in 2021. Plaintiffs allege the property was destroyed and that a man suffered bodily harm after being forced by Ye to live on-site around the clock. Ye and his wife, Bianca Censori, are expected to testify.²⁰

Apology and Current Status

In January 2026, Ye published a full-page apology in the Wall Street Journal for his antisemitic statements, attributing his behavior to a previously undiagnosed brain injury from a car accident more than 20 years ago and to bipolar disorder. Weeks later, filings in the Jane Doe case continued to argue his workplace communications were protected artistic expression, a position at odds with the tone of the apology.²⁰

The concerts have continued. In June 2026, Florida Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody asked the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel two Ye concerts at Raymond James Stadium over his history of antisemitic remarks. The authority declined, saying it respects “free speech rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, even when we disagree with that speech.”¹⁴

1
ADL. Ye (Kanye West): What You Need to Know
2
Digital Music News. Kanye West Album Leaked on Discord
3
NBC News. Ye Song Glorifying Hitler Gets Millions of Views
4
Billboard. Ye Heil Hitler Simon Wiesenthal Center
5
Complex. Videos Show Pop-Up Choir Singing Ye’s Heil Hitler Track at Walk of Fame
6
HotNewHipHop. Choir Sings Kanye West Heil Hitler Song at Hollywood Walk of Fame
7
Washington Post. Supreme Court Unanimously Reaffirms There Is No Hate Speech Exception to the First Amendment
8
California Attorney General. Hate Crimes
9
FindLaw. California Penal Code Section 422.6
10
National Constitution Center. First Amendment Interpretations
11
Hollywood Fringe Festival. Busking Regulations
12
Morning Brew. Shopify Shuts Down Yeezy Swastika Tee
13
CNBC. Shopify Removes Ye Website Selling Swastika Shirts After Super Bowl Ad
14
Austin American-Statesman. Kanye West Ye Texas San Antonio Florida
15
The Guardian. Kanye West Sued, Dropped by Talent Agency and Retail Platform Over Antisemitic Remarks
16
Courthouse News Service. Artistic Expression Defense Won’t Get Ye Out of Harassment Lawsuit
17
Rolling Stone. Kanye West Ex-Employee Antisemitic Harassment Lawsuit
18
Billboard. Ye Kanye West Fights Antisemitism Suit, Nazi Remarks as Art
19
Reuters. Adidas Defeats Appeal in Lawsuit Over Imploded Ye Partnership
20
Hollywood Reporter. Kanye Ye West Antisemitic Speech Legal Case Apology