Kanye West had already been burning bridges in the music industry. He was disinvited from

performing at the Grammy Awards last spring after erratic behavior. He withdrew from headlining

this year’s Coachella festival just over a week before it began. His last album was released not on

streaming services, but exclusively on a proprietary $200 speaker device.

This month Mr. West, who now goes by Ye, came under fire for making a series of antisemitic

remarks and wearing a shirt with a slogan associated with white supremacists, putting some of his

fashion-related businesses — which appear to be more lucrative these days than his musical

ventures — in jeopardy.

It has become a make-or-break moment for his career, and raised questions about how much

offensive behavior companies are willing to tolerate from a proven moneymaker.

The antisemitic outbursts and provocations by the artist now known as Ye have raised questions about how much offensive behavior companies are willing to tolerate from a proven moneymaker.

Kanye West had already been burning bridges in the music industry. He was disinvited from performing at the Grammy Awards last spring after erratic behavior. He withdrew from headlining this year’s Coachella festival just over a week before it began. His last album was released not on streaming services, but exclusively on a proprietary $200 speaker device.

This month Mr. West, who now goes by Ye, came under fire for making a series of antisemitic remarks and wearing a shirt with a slogan associated with white supremacists, putting some of his fashion-related businesses — which appear to be more lucrative these days than his musical ventures — in jeopardy.