Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will not be performing in Russia, as originally planned. The stadium denies ever organizing such an event and says no rental agreements were signed.
Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, was planning a set of concerts on October 10 and 11 at the Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg. But the stadium denies ever organizing these shows and says no rental agreements were signed.
“Gazprom Arena was not and is not the organizer of this event. This was handled by the Moscow-based concert agency Say Agency,” read a statement written in Russian on the stadium’s official Instagram account. “Gazprom Arena did not sign any stadium rental agreements for the event. There is no such agreement. Accordingly, the concert cannot take place at our venue.”
Notably, the stadium previously talked Ye up on its social media accounts, calling him “the most influential musical artist of our time.”
According to the BBC, Say Agency claimed that the concerts were scheduled based on an “official letter that was approved” by Gazprom Arena. The agency also added that it only learned about the cancellation through social media.
Say Agency also acknowledged the disgraced artist’s history of antisemitism, writing that “Not everything Kanye West said should be forgotten. The agency noted that “it’s easy to judge,” but “more difficult to listen to a person who has been changing the industry for decades.”
Unfortunately, both concerts were sold out, leading fans to put Gazprom Arena on blast on Instagram.
“You were the first to announce the event and sell tickets on your official website, and now you brazenly lie in your post,” wrote one frustrated fan. “They announced the event on their website and social media, thereby convincing people that it would actually take place,” wrote another. “People come from all over the country, bought tickets, paid for hotels, and then you just cancel it.”
If the concerts had taken place, Ye would have been the first major Western artist to perform in the country since its invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. But the controversial musician has seen a slew of his planned gigs canceled this year amid the backlash to his rampant antisemitism in recent years, which included selling Nazi paraphernalia and releasing a track called “Heil Hitler.”
Ye posted a lengthy apology in a full-page ad taken out in The Wall Street Journal, blaming his mental health issues, including a bipolar diagnosis, for his “poor judgment and reckless behavior.”
But the apology did little to assuage concerns that he had turned over a new leaf. Earlier this summer, London’s Wireless Festival was canceled altogether after Ye, announced as its headliner, was denied entry to the UK.
He’s also had shows canceled in the UK, Poland, Italy, and France, though a few countries have still been willing to host him. His shows in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Albania all went ahead as planned. Ye also did a show in Los Angeles in April, his first major U.S. concert in more than five years.
