Kanye West was set to perform in Italy with Ty Dolla $ign, but the show was called-off due to safety concerns.
The show was originally scheduled to take place at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia in early October, however, it was postponed amid bad weather and a train strike. While the show was rescheduled to October 27, it has now been cancelled due to “security and organizational issues,” The Daily Mail reports. Local prefect Maria Rita Cocciufa told the outlet that “we had no option but to cancel the event,” noting that health and traffic plans needed to be in place.
“You have to have all these things in place because you have to guarantee the safety and security of the people attending and as a city, we were ready but we just hadn’t heard anything from the organisers, so for safety reasons it had to be cancelled – the concert was due to take place Friday and on Monday we had still heard nothing,” Cocciufa said.
West’s previous anti-Semitic comments and his praise for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler might have been another reason for the cancellation, as it caused controversy among locals. Last year, West said in an interview with “InfoWars'” Alex Jones “every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.”
“I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis,” West said in the interview. “There’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler, a lot of things, I like Hitler, I am a Nazi.”
Ahead of the show, Albertina Soliani, vice president of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI), said in a statement “it’s time to say enough to these people who believe they can say what they want.”
“Someone can be a fantastic singer but then they are also judged by what they say, and West has made some inhumane declarations and with what’s happening in the world today we cannot accept this concert,” Soliani said.
Ermete Fiaccadori, ANPI regional president for Reggio Emilia, echoed similar sentiments, noting that he hopes the concert does not go on, as “his message is disquieting.”
“I’m speechless that he cannot understand what he is saying, broadcasting a gross misunderstanding of what Adolf Hitler was in the court of history,” Fiaccadori said. “I’m all for artistic liberty, but what Kanye West says and does leave me shocked. As an organization we condemn this concert totally and we are very concerned about what message it conveys.”
However, Davide Caiti, partner of arena owner C.Volvo, told II Resto Del Carlino that West’s U.S. production team were to blame for the show cancellation, denying that protests were a factor in the show’s demise.
“Faced with an event of that magnitude and a business like that, production would certainly not have stopped due to four local controversies,” he said. “If they [cite] that, it will just be an excuse… maybe next time, we’ll get some more guarantees,” Caiti told the publication.
West last performed in Italy in August alongside Travis Scott at a gig in Rome. Fans speculated that West and rapper Ty Dolla $ign will appear together for an event after the latter posted an instagram that read: “¥$ multi stadium listening event November 3rd.”
