From the announcement of his concerts last week to a venue backing out days later, US rap star Kanye West’s two planned shows in Russia have caused division among officials about whether they should go ahead.
West, who goes by the stage name “Ye,” has been barred from several European countries over past antisemitic comments.
The biggest Western musician to headline in Russia since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022, some Russian officials have welcomed West’s planned shows, hoping to dispel the notion that Russia is isolated over the war.
Others have expressed concerns about the rapper’s past comments glorifying Nazi Germany – a sensitive issue in Russia – and the original planned venue has since distanced itself from the concerts.
It remains unclear whether the concerts will take place.
Venue pulls out
Tickets for the two concerts, scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11 in St Petersburg, appeared on the website of Moscow-based events organiser Say Agency earlier this month.
The agency advertised the events as taking place in St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena, with the stadium itself sharing adverts for the upcoming concert on its Telegram account.
But a week later, Gazprom Arena denied it would host the shows, saying it had “not signed any contracts to lease the stadium for the event”.
The apparent cancellation appeared to take the organizers by surprise, and prompted anger and confusion among social media users, some of whom had already bought tickets.
Ticket prices ranged from around $100 to almost $2,000, the cheapest of which sold out within hours.
“Give the people their money back, you clowns,” one user wrote on Telegram under Gazprom Arena’s post.
Say Agency denied the concerts had been cancelled and announced it was working on a solution.
“Please be patient and wait for an official announcement,” it said.
Over 100,000 tickets had already been sold, according to state media.