Kanye West’s Episode of LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s ‘The Shop’ Pulled Due to ‘Hate Speech’

“We have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate,” executive producer Maverick Carter told PEOPLE

Producers for the unscripted series The Shop: Uninterrupted have decided they will no longer run Kanye West’s episode due to his use of hate speech.

“Yesterday we taped an episode of The Shop with Kanye West. Kanye was booked weeks ago and, after talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion and he was ready to address all his recent comments,” a statement by executive producer Maverick Carter to PEOPLE began on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, he used The Shop to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes. We have made the decision not to air this episode or any of Kanye’s remarks,” he continued. “While The Shop embraces thoughtful discourse and differing opinions, we have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate.”

He concluded, “I take full responsibility for believing Kanye wanted a different conversation and apologize to our guests and crew. Hate speech should never have an audience.”

The show is also executive produced by LeBron James, though he was not present in the taping.

The controversy on the show is the latest in the 45-year-old “Good Morning” rapper’s use of hate speech in the past week.

In a now-deleted Instagram post from Friday, West shared a screenshot of a text exchange between himself and Sean “Diddy” Combs, which allegedly appeared to show West claiming that Combs, 52, was controlled by Jewish people. “Jesus is Jew,” he reportedly wrote in the caption.

Instagram restricted the Grammy winner’s account and deleted content from his page after he violated the platform’s rules and guidelines, according to CNN, although a Meta spokesperson did not confirm to either outlet what content violated their rules.

He later had a tweet on his Twitter account taken down on Saturday, after he violated the company’s rules.

In the now-deleted message, West wrote that he was going to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote, per the outlet. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

The American Jewish Committee called out West’s language for perpetuating “anti-Semitic tropes like greed and control,” writing in a statement, in part, “Kanye West should figure out how to make a point without using antisemitism. Over the last week, the musician has fomented hatred of Jews.”

Since then, celebrities have also called out the rapper for his language, including Jamie Lee Curtis, John Legend, Lizzo, Jack Antonoff and more.

Legend did not mention his former friend by name, but alluded to the comments on Twitter, writing, “Weird how all these “free, independent thinkers” always land at the same old anti blackness and anti semitism.”

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