Ye concerts scrapped in Poland, Switzerland as backlash over antisemitic remarks continues

JTA – Concerts by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, have now been called off in Poland and Switzerland amid growing backlash over his past antisemitic comments, further disrupting plans for his coming international tour. 

Ye also said he had postponed a June concert in Marseille as French media reported that Interior Minister Laurent Nunez was seeking to have the event banned. 

“After much thought and consideration, it is my sole decision to postpone my show in Marseille, France until further notice,” Ye wrote on X. In a subsequent post, he appeared to allude further to the situation, writing, “I know it takes time to understand the sincerity of my commitment to make amends.” 

The cancellations follow the scrapping of a London music festival earlier this month which Ye had been slated to headline. The British government denied him entry into the country amid mounting pressure from Jewish groups over his history of antisemitic remarks. 

While Ye has apologised multiple times for his antisemitic tirades, including his previous vows to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” and the release of a song titled Heil Hitler last year, the rapper’s coming tour has faced mounting cancellations. But his comeback tour ‒ which launched with two sold-out shows in Los Angeles ‒ is prompting renewed scrutiny over the sincerity of his apologies, and debate over how much time should pass before people who have erred are allowed back into public life. 

On Saturday, the Swiss football club FC Basel (FCB), which coordinates concerts at the St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters it had denied the rapper’s request to use the venue in June. 

“FCB received an inquiry and considered it. However, after thorough review, we have decided not to proceed with the project, as we cannot, in accordance with our values, provide a platform ‌for ⁠the artist in question within this context,” a spokesperson told Reuters. 

And after the Polish Culture Ministry announced it was seeking to block Ye from performing in the country, the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów cited “formal and legal reasons” for cancelling West’s June concert. 

“The decision to organise a Kanye West concert in Poland is unacceptable,” Culture Minister Marta Cienkowsk wrote in a post on X, adding, “In a country scarred by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend that this is just entertainment.” 

Ye still has concerts slated in New Delhi, Istanbul, the Netherlands, Italy, Madrid, and Portugal later this year. 

The Centraal Joods Overleg, a Dutch Jewish watchdog group, called on the Netherlands Justice Minister, David van Weel, to cancel Ye’s planned concerts in the country, writing that it must “apply the same standards” as the UK and Australia, which barred Ye from entering the country in July. The mayor of the city where the concert is to take place, Ahmed Marcouch, said last week that he saw no legal basis for cancelling the concert, even as he said he thought Ye’s comments about Jews were “disgusting”.