Kanye West’s (Ye) planned concert at Poland’s Silesian Stadium has been canceled. The decision follows significant pressure from Polish authorities and public backlash regarding the artist’s history of antisemitic comments and past praise of Nazi ideology.
Poland’s decision to not allow Kanye to perform follows similar decisions from the UK and France. West is also banned from entering Australia.
This leaves booked shows for him in Italy, Turkey, and India.
Poland is especially touchy about the embrace of Nazis and Hitler since a great deal of the Holocaust took place in their country, especially the decimation of the Warsaw Ghetto. Kanye would do well to watch Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” if he wants to learn more about the history of music and the Nazis in Poland.
Marta Cienkowska, Poland’s culture minister, said in a statement: “In a country marked by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend this is just entertainment.
“We are talking about an artist who has publicly made antisemitic remarks, relativized crimes, and profited from selling T-shirts with a swastika.”
“This is a deliberate crossing of a boundary and a normalization of hate,” she added in a social media post on Thursday according to tvpworld.com.
“Culture cannot be a space for those who use it to spread contempt,” Cienkowska said.
West’s opportunities to perform around the world are shrinking quickly after the fiasco at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. They allowed him put on two shows, one of which was on the first night of Passover.
Since then, West — a vocal and avowed antisemite — has posted that he wants “to make amends,” whatever that means.
Meanwhile, sales of his new “Bully” album have slowed down to a trickle. Sales are mostly coming from streaming, but they’re down 60% from last week to just 33,000.
