A Kanye West concert in Poland has been cancelled, the venue has announced, following government pressure and condemnation over a string of antisemitic, racist, and pro-Nazi comments made by the US rapper.
West, also known as Ye, was scheduled to appear at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów on 19 June, marking his first performance in Poland for 15 years. However, the venue stated on Friday it would not take place 'due to formal and legal reasons.'
Marta Cienkowska, Poland's culture and heritage minister, had described the decision to book West as 'unacceptable.'
This cancellation comes days after West postponed a gig in France and a week after he was banned from entering the UK to headline the Wireless Festival.
In February last year, West started selling swastika T-shirts, prompting the commerce platform Shopify to take down his web store. Three months later, he released the track 'Heil Hitler,' in which he claimed a child custody battle and the freezing of his financial assets turned him towards Nazism.
Prior to the announcement of his European tour and the release of his latest album, the rapper issued an apology in a statement published as a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal, claiming, 'I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.'
West acknowledged that he had 'lost touch with reality' due to his bipolar disorder. In Poland, promoting Nazi symbols is a criminal offense, potentially leading to imprisonment for up to three years.
The rapper's comments resonate strongly in Poland, a country that suffered immense atrocities under Nazi occupation during World War II, where millions of Jews were murdered, including three million Polish Jews. The town of Chorzów was among the first to face invasion by German forces in 1939. Cienkowska emphasized that West's actions contribute to 'the normalization of hatred,' and that culture cannot accommodate those who utilize it to perpetuate such sentiments.
Prior to this concert cancellation, a government spokesman indicated that blocking the concert was complex due to legal limitations, but ultimately the Polish foreign ministry concurred that the concert should not proceed. West was also scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in London and perform in Marseille, but these events are now jeopardized by his inability to enter the respective countries.
