Two sold-out concerts by the US rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in Russia have been cancelled, the organiser has confirmed. The shows were due to take place on 10 and 11 October at the Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, in a stadium with room for about 80,000 spectators.
In a post on Telegram on Thursday, the Moscow-based Say Agency said the concerts "will not be able to take place" on the scheduled dates and promised an official statement soon on "the status of the project and future plans". Refunds will be available from 12 October. Ticket prices ranged from about 100 to 1,700 euros, and cheaper seats sold out almost immediately after the announcement, which also prompted a rush to buy train tickets to the city. Russian daily Kommersant reported that authorities have opened an investigation into possible large-scale fraud linked to the sales. Ye has not commented publicly, and his representatives were contacted for comment.
The cancellation follows weeks of confusion. The arena first promoted the concerts enthusiastically, but in August said it had never signed a lease agreement with the promoters, so the event could not be held there. It also acknowledged receiving complaints. In mid-September St Petersburg was removed from the artist's tour schedule.
The plans drew criticism inside Russia on several fronts. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the shows unacceptable, pointing to Ye's "glorification" of Hitler, a sensitive issue in a country that suffered enormous losses when Nazi Germany invaded in World War Two. Politician Nikolay Novichkov urged an investigation and said the concerts should be cancelled unless Ye publicly voiced support for Russia and what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. Pro-war bloggers also questioned why an American artist should perform while the United States backs Ukraine with financial and military aid.
Ye has been widely condemned for antisemitic and pro-Nazi remarks. In 2022 he said he loved Hitler, and last year he sold swastika T-shirts and released a song called Heil Hitler. In January he apologised in a full-page Wall Street Journal advert, writing: "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite." He attributed his behaviour to a manic episode linked to bipolar disorder.
The Russian dates are not the only ones to fall through. Ye was barred from entering the UK, which led to the cancellation of London's Wireless Festival, and shows in France, Poland and Italy were also called off or postponed. In Italy, a local prefect halted gigs after concerns from the Jewish community. Even so, he has played to large crowds elsewhere, including Los Angeles, Turkey, the Netherlands, Portugal and Kazakhstan, in support of his album Bully.
The episode shows how the rapper's past statements continue to shape where he can perform, and how a planned appearance in Russia, which faces sweeping Western sanctions and cultural boycotts over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was contested at home as well as abroad.