Kanye ‘Ye’ West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as more European countries are turning their backs on the controversial rapper amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments.
Two more Kanye ‘Ye’ West concerts have been cancelled over the controversial rapper’s past antisemitic comments.
Following the UK government barring his entry to the country and the subsequent cancellation of this year’s Wireless Festival, as well as West’s Orange Velodrome Marseille gig postponed in France, both Poland and Switzerland have pulled the plug.
West was due to appear at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów on 19 June, his first performance in Poland for 15 years. However, the venue announced that the concert would not take place “due to formal and legal reasons.”
The decision came after the country’s Culture Minister, Marta Cienkowska, condemned the rapper, arguing that his history of offensive remarks should bar him from performing in a nation “scarred by the history of the Holocaust”.
“We cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” Cienkowska said. “We are talking about an artist who has publicly made anti-Semitic remarks, relativised crimes, and profited from selling T-shirts with a swastika. These are not ‘controversies.’ This is a deliberate crossing of a boundary and a normalisation of hate.”
She concluded by saying culture could not “be a space for those who use it to spread contempt”.
