David Letterman and Netflix Reportedly Edited Out Kanye West’s Tirade About Nazis in 2019 Interview

Audience members at a live taping of David Letterman’s Netflix talk show have opened up about the show sanitizing Kanye West’s appearance, saying it was “shocking” to see his sentiments cleaned from the final cut. In a 2019 interview, the rapper reportedly referenced Nazis and victim-blamed Rihanna while chatting with the comedian on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

Noah Reich and David Maldonado were in the audience of the Season 2 taping in 2019, and chatted with TheWrap about the experience.

West, who now also goes by Ye, allegedly repeated right-wing conspiracies. He also said that liberals treated anyone in a red “Make America Great Again” cap as if “they were Nazis.”

Further, West allegedly said that Rihanna, who has been open about her experiences with domestic abuse, probably did something to “deserve” what happened to her.

“It was shocking to see that Kanye West could share harmful alt-right beliefs, conspiracy theory after conspiracy and misogynistic beliefs about women for the majority of the interview and end up with an edit that removed all those items in favor of celebrity fluff content,” Reich recalled of the experience.

Most of these comments were reportedly axed by Netflix, with the final cut mostly including discussions about West’s Yeezy line. There was one comment about bullying Donald Trump left in the show. Netflix did not immediately return a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

More controversial content was reportedly cut, including West referencing a music executive friend that got “MeToo-ed.” West allegedly went on to say that he, himself, could be “MeToo-ed,” going on to reference a Hollywood power structure behind the MeToo movement.

Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, Inc., who produces My Next Guest, told TheWrap that the show is “an edited conversation” that was shot for five hours over two days with the rapper. The company said that West “discussed a wide range of topics with David Letterman, including family, fatherhood, music and creativity.”

“Mr. West subsequently began an offensive rant about the MeToo movement,” Worldwide Pants said in a statement. “He also later spoke about liberals purportedly bullying Trump supporters, and about free speech being suppressed. These points were represented in the show, the producers went to great lengths to accurately present them, and Dave challenged him on each of these.”

This news comes as Kanye West continues to face backlash for comments made about the Jewish community, stating on social media that he would go “death con 3” on Jewish people.

Companies like Adidas and Balenciaga have ended their partnership with the rapper. CAA has dropped West, and MRC also axed an upcoming documentary about him.