Person did Nazi salute outside Ontario Chick-fil-A while blasting Kanye West's 'vile' antisemitic song

Desmond Brown · CBC News

· Posted: May 22, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

A Jewish advocacy radical has powerfully condemned a "vile" video of an chartless idiosyncratic performing what appears to beryllium fascist salute successful the parking batch of the U.S.-owned Chick-fil-A edifice successful Burlington, Ont.

The video, shared connected X by arguable rapper Ye, formerly known arsenic Kanye West, features idiosyncratic riding a motorized scooter with flashing lights and a video monitor. The idiosyncratic comes to a halt earlier doubly doing what appears to beryllium a Nazi salute portion Ye's new song Heil Hitler plays connected the monitor.

The video, which was posted conscionable aft 6 a.m. ET connected May 14, had garnered much than 2 cardinal views earlier it was deleted connected Wednesday. 

CBC News has viewed the video and was capable to lucifer it with the Burlington determination done Google Maps. 

Richard Robertson, B'nai Brith Canada's manager of probe and advocacy, said it's alarming for idiosyncratic successful Canada to beryllium creating contented similar this, which is "clearly antisemitic."

"It raises a tremendous magnitude of reddish flags astatine a clip erstwhile antisemitism is connected the emergence successful this state and we are grappling with a situation of antisemitism," Robertson told CBC Hamilton. 

"For Mr. West to past lend credence to this contented by sharing it connected his X relationship is simply deplorable. Mr. West has demonstrated done his caller actions that helium cares not for the well-being of others, the well-being of the Jewish community, and that helium lone cares to incite against the Jewish community, and that's precisely what he's done here."

Video 'perpetuates fascist behaviour': HARRC 

Ye's song, Heil Hitler, was released conscionable implicit a week ago. The song, praising Adolf Hitler, was posted connected societal media platforms and euphony streaming services. Most services removed the antisemitic way wrong days, but it had already been viewed and listened to by millions.

The opus and video for Heil Hitler, which glorifies the Nazi person and includes a illustration from a Hitler speech, remains connected Elon Musk's societal media level X.

Lyndon George, enforcement manager of the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre, says societal media platforms like X have a work to instrumentality down and halt the dispersed of hateful content, exemplified by Ye's opus and exhibited successful "the racist video" that was filmed in Burlington, Ont. 

"The song's chorus says it each and the video showing the strident treble Nazi salute leaves nary doubt," George wrote successful an email to CBC News. "Kanye West's astir caller societal media station connected X glorifying Nazism and praising Hitler, normalizes hate, racism and antisemitism and perpetuates fascist behaviour." 

CBC News attempted to interaction X Corp., the societal media platform's genitor company, for comment, but did not get a response.

Song is 'vile' and should beryllium condemned: Robertson

Meanwhile, Robertson said Ye's Heil Hitler opus "is vile," adding that the video changeable successful Ontario is besides thing that should beryllium condemned. 

"This is not typical of Canadian values. This is behaviour that should beryllium denounced successful the strongest imaginable signifier and that should not beryllium tolerated successful our society," Robertson added.

The opus and video travel as antisemitism appears to beryllium connected the emergence successful Canada, with Statistics Canada reporting a 71 per cent summation successful hatred crimes targeting the Jewish colonisation betwixt 2022 and 2023. 

It besides comes a fewer months aft the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies enactment retired a report warning of the rising prominence of young radical who are attracted to convulsive ideologies, with recruiters utilizing innocuous societal media and gaming platforms similar Discord, Instagram, Roblox and TikTok as breeding grounds for hate.

CBC News has besides reached retired to Chick-fil-A and Halton Regional Police Service for remark but did not perceive back. A woman who said she's 1 of the managers astatine the Burlington edifice said they are not authorized to talk astir the issue.