Not defending Kanye and I strongly think he shouldn’t be given the platform to perform, honestly I’d say more needs to be said of the music video assault incident and the other incidents of alleged abuse, particularly with him openly saying he has beaten women amidst his meltdown ?? Even considering the nuances of severe mental health issues, combined with the unrealistic level of fame for one person to have and the impact that has on the psyche, openly stating this amongst the rest of his Twitter breakdown, combined with witness accounts of said behavior, there is no earned forgiveness or “second chance” that’s justifiable here (laughable to call this a SECOND chance btw). I’m also not moved by these massive corporations pulling their support over what seems to be stated as due to his antisemitism, because at minimum Pepsi has sponsored multiple known abusers, MAGA losers, etc, so one has to question why this is where they draw the line (sorry if this sounds cynical, it’s just something I feel like is a bit sketchy overall).
It's just PR. Having the prime minister and the London mayor come out against the decision and question the booking is the only reason. Apparently the Pepsi IG account commented on the post when the shows were announced, doesn't appear to be there anymore, though.
Yeah, as much as I'm gaining some satisfaction from the drop outs, the disappointment in the initial booking outweighs it all.
I feel like even people who are fully wanting to give him a "second chance" (even if it's more like third, fourth, fifth chances...) should be able to see that buying out a full page ad for an apology and then immediately going into an album and tour cycle just feels like he's trying to fast track his redemption, which is against the entire spirit of possible redemption. We're not even a full year out from his full blown antisemitism and him and his team are asking for the general public to be comfortable with him headlining a massive 3 day festival? The man that has a song on his latest album that was previously titled "Gas Chambers" that he kept and changed its name to "All the Love"? It's wild that if this turn is actually genuine, he or his team didn't have the foresight to see how bad the timing is on all of this. He really should have dropped that apology, fucked off for at least a few more years and then maybe come back in like, 2029 with some steps to show actual progress and remorse. And not even then should he expect everyone to be on board with it.
And of course that's not even touching on the sexual assault allegations which should also be getting cited as a reason these sponsors and politicians are bringing up concern with him, genuinely don't know if he's truly coming back from that if he still refuses to really address those.
There's straight up no justification for giving this guy a platform ever again, other than morally bankrupt people are okay with taking the money of other morally bankrupt people. Zero, none. If he wants redemption, he should give all of his money to reputable causes and disappear from the public eye. Relieved to see the UK denying him entry.
I’m really interested to know how much of a risk Festival Republic thought it was to get him. Hindsight is 20/20 but the reception to the shows being announced was clearly a jarring one. The things he said were so heinous, when you look at Tyler being banned from the UK for lyrics in his songs, it must have been a very evident risk. Yes that was a conservative government, but when there are acts of violence against the Jewish community in London happening, it just seems crazy to think this wasn’t going to blow up.
The fact Kanye's team initially wanted him to play at Tottenham Hotspur stadium, a club of which has deep Jewish roots to the extent that their fans affectionately refer to each other as "yids", is bewildering and incredibly tone deaf lol. The whole thing has been such a shit show. Fuck Kanye.
Wireless Festival is now officially cancelled Wireless Festival cancelled after government stops Kanye West entering UK
Oh, and in case anyone thought any of these typed apologies mean anything (to my knowledge nothing he has done aside from that one meeting had been off camera, much easier to hide any insincerity when there’s nothing on the spot/body language is a factor), I recently found out the two engineers who did my first three albums worked on this new album and some of Vultures 2, and the overall sentiment was how challenging it was and “Don’t meet your idols”, these dudes were always easy to work with even when I had very specific requests so it’s pretty obvious he’s not doing anything in the realm of “kindness and love” behind the scenes