FOX issues statement after controversial Kanye West Super Bowl LIX commercial

The CEO of FOX, Jack Abernethy, has issued a statement on the network’s decision to air Kanye West’s controversial Super Bowl ad promoting swastika T-shirts on his website, according to Front Office Sports.

Three days after the controversial ad aired on multiple FOX stations located in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, as well as a separate FOX affiliate in St. Louis, during the network’s Super Bowl LIX broadcast, Abernethy sent a letter to FOX employees explaining what happened.

“The ad, which was presented as a legitimate online apparel site before and during the airing of the Super Bowl, was switched at some point afterwards, and completely outside of our stations control, respondents to the commercials were redirected toward the marketing of a wholly appalling product,” Abernethy wrote, according to Variety. “We regret that these commercials aired in these three markets, and we strongly condemn any form of antisemitism.”

The 30-second ad, seemingly filmed on West’s cellphone while sitting in a dentist’s chair, promoted a link to West’s website, Yeezy.com, that was subsequently changed from offering an array of apparel to just selling $20 white t-shirts with a black swastika on the front. By Tuesday morning, Shopify had taken the website down.

Front Office Sports reported earlier this week that West’s original website cleared Fox’s legal vetting and that the network was unaware a change was being made.

West has a history of making pro-Hitler and anitisemitic content, including a weeklong rant on X (formerly known as Twitter) leading up to Super Bowl LIX before deactivating his account. However, it now appears Ye’s Twitter account has been reactivated after a brief hiatus.

Of course, this is not the first time a Kanye West stunt involved the Super Bowl.

Brandon Marshall: Taylor Swift got Kanye West kicked out of Super Bowl LVIII

Taylor Swift and Kanye West are no strangers, as the moment West interrupted Swift on stage at the 2009 VMA Awards is surely not forgotten. Not even on Super Bowl Sunday, according to one former NFL star.

Former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall alleged West apparently tried to glom onto the cresting wave of Swift’s involvement with the Kansas City Chiefs and star tight end Travis Kelce at Super Bowl LVIII. West purchased a ticket in front of the booth that Swift was watching the game from — along with plenty of other famous faces, such as Lana Del Rey — and thus planned to appear in shots of the CBS broadcast going out to millions.

“In front of Taylor Swift’s booth. Mask on with his logo on the mask, right? Typical Kanye,” Marshall said. “Taylor Swift gets pissed off, she boom-boom, makes a call or two, everybody’s involved. He gets kicked out the stadium. Hot tea, hot tea, hot tea.”

The gambit of trying to place oneself in front of a potential camera shot going out to more than 200 million viewers — is tried and true as a method of marketing. West also spent in the neighborhood of $7 million to air a commercial on the CBS broadcast of the Super Bowl.

Swift was shown on the broadcast in the Kelce suite and in a few other shots throughout the broadcast, totaling 54 seconds of air time in the game telecast.

“So now you gotta go back to the beef, him cutting her off. ‘Beyonce should’ve won it.’ Then years after, that whole relationship. But that’s what he tried to do man, he tried to sit in front of Taylor Swift,” Marshall said.

Andrew Graham contributed to this report.