That’s the full page ad that “Ye,” aka. Kanye West, paid to have placed in, of all papers, the Wall Street Journal. I wonder what percentage of WSJ readers even know who the hell he is? Never mind; he did it. Here’s what the ad says (I hesitate to put down “he wrote’):

“Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed….”

It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis. Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.

Once people label you as crazy, you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you live from….

The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, and unstoppable. 

I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to love someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self. 

In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find: the swastika, and even sold t-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type 1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people. 

To the black community – which held me down through all of the highs and lows and some of my darkest times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us. 

In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore. 

Having bipolar disorder is not a state of constant mental illness. When you go into the manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely “normal.” And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help. 

I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who run [sic] their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism.” 

My words as a leader in my community have real global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that. 

As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world. 

I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”

It’s time to check the old, Ethics Alarms Apology Scale to see where this whatever it is fits.

According to the scale, this is the hierarchy of apologies, their function and their motivation, from most admirable to the least credible:

1. An apology motivated by the realization that one’s past conduct was unjust, unfair, and wrong, constituting an unequivocal admission of wrongdoing as well as regret, remorse and contrition, as part of a sincere effort to make amends and seek forgiveness.

2. An apology motivated by the realization that one’s legitimate and defensible action or words caused unanticipated, excessive, or unnecessary harm to a particular party or parties. The apology expresses a sincere regret that the harm occurred.

3. An apology motivated by a desire to accept accountability for an event or occurrence that one may not have caused, but was responsible for in some way.

4. A spontaneous  apology intended to demonstrate compassion and sympathy for the victim or victims of the unavoidable consequences of a necessary action.

5. A spontaneous apology designed to prevent future, preventable harm by expressing regret that a past action was necessary or that it occurred at all.

6. A forced or compelled version of 1-4, when the individual (or organization) apologizing knows that an apology is appropriate but would have avoided making one if he or she could have gotten away with it.

7. A forced or compelled version of 1-4, in which the individual (or organization) apologizing may not sincerely believe that an apology is appropriate, but chooses to show the victim or victims of the act inspiring it that the individual responsible is humbling himself and being forced to admit wrongdoing by the society, the culture, legal authority, or an organization or group that the individual’s actions reflect upon or represent .

8. A forced apology for a rightful or legitimate act, in capitulation to bullying, fear, threats, desperation or other coercion.

9. Deceitful apologies, in which the wording of the apology is crafted to appear apologetic when it is not (“if my words offended, I am sorry”). Another variation: apologizing for a tangential matter other than the act or words that warranted an apology.

10. An insincere and dishonest apology designed to allow the wrongdoer to escape accountability cheaply, and to deceive his or her victims into forgiveness and trust, so they are vulnerable to future wrongdoing.

11. The Impossible Apology: An inherently unbelievable apology for conduct or words so unethical and so extreme that nobody could possibly say or engage it accidentally or unintentionally. Such an apology for words or conduct of signature significance, indicating that the speaker or wrongdoer is unethical and untrustworthy because no individual who is ethical and trustworthy would behave in such a manner even once, is not merely cynical and a travesty, but insulting to its intended audience.

The wording of the ad is almost perfect Level One apology content. Then again, every one of the eleven apology varieties on the list except #8 could describe the ad. Which one would you say is most accurate?

Some considerations:

1. “Ye” (My bias: I have a hard time taking anyone seriously who manufactures a name like “Ye” for his or her public persona.) is a cancelled celebrity because of his many ugly flirtations with fascism and anti-Semitsim, not to mention Donald Trump. It is in his financial and career interests to be forgiven. On that basis, it is reasonable to suspect that the ad is a #10.

2. Arguably, an apology for wrongful words or conduct that uses an illness or medical condition as an excuse is no different from the popular Pazuzu Excuse, when a politician or celebrity claims that the conduct “wasn’t who I am,” usually blaming drug abuse or alcoholism, and announces that he or she is entering rehab. Don’t blame me! I was sick! belongs in the same category as “the dog ate my homework.”

3. Someone with psychiatric expertise will have to explain if the bi-polar disorder can turn someone into a Nazi who isn’t already so inclined. I am dubious, to put it mildly.

4. West was a cultural bull in a china shop from the minute he became famous. Was his hijacking the Katrina telethon and announcing that President Bush didn’t care about blacks also the result of his closed head injury? West has always been a toxic asshole, and his ad begs for forgiveness regarding only a select examples of his persistent rotten behavior. Yes, I’m leaning toward marking his apology as a #10.

5. Did he even write this? I’d say that the odds are slim. On social media many are claiming that the ad has AI written all over it, but it could easily be the work of a publicist or reputation consultant. That would be my guess. One of the ways AI has made our world a little worse is that it is now frequently impossible to tell what is genuine and what isn’t. Similarly, “Ye” has always sold himself as a fearless truth-teller. Now he wants to be forgiven because what he thought was truth-telling at the time turned out to be offensive to the wrong people—or is it just that it was costing him money and losing him contracts? If we haven’t seen the real “Ye” for 25 years, how do we know who or what he really is?

6. West is preparing to release new music for sale. Take that as you will…