Kanye

Rapper known as Ye must pay six-figure sum to four plaintiffs who successfully argued he infringed copyrightKanye West has lost a lawsuit which alleged he infringed on other artists’ copyright by playing an uncleared sample of their work during a live event.In July 2021 the artist, now legally known as Ye, played his then-unreleased album Donda to 40,000 fans at a listening party held at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The version of the song Hurricane featured a sample of MSD PT2, an instrumental composed by four musicians: Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Sam Barsh, Josh Mease and Dan Seeff. They had made the instrumental in 2018, and it made its way to Ye via another producer. Continue reading...

FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic commentsKanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments.Swiss football club FC Basel, which is responsible for concerts and events that take place at its St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters on Saturday that after reviewing a request for West to perform there in June, it decided against it. Continue reading...

Interior minister is ‘highly determined’ to block US rapper from performing in the southern city in June due to his past antisemitic remarks, sources sayFrance’s interior minister is seeking to block the US rapper formerly known as Kanye West from performing in the southern city of Marseille in June due to his antisemitic remarks, a source close to the minister said Tuesday.The interior minister, Laurent Nunez, is “highly determined” to ban the 11 June concert at Marseille’s Velodrome stadium and is exploring “all possibilities”, the source told Agence France-Presse. Continue reading...

Industry experts say booking of controversial US rapper was calculated risk that has implications for all festivalsThe fallout over Wireless announcing Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) as its 2026 headliner was both swift and considerable.Last Sunday, major sponsors of the three-day festival, including Pepsi and Diageo, began to withdraw their involvement in the face of a significant backlash to Ye’s shocking pronouncements on the Jewish community and the Holocaust. UK Jewish groups threatened to protest if the shows went ahead. Keir Starmer called the decision to book the rapper who wrote a song titled Heil Hitler “deeply concerning”. Continue reading...

Lanre Bakare on the UK government’s decision to revoke Kanye West’s visa after Wireless festival booked him as a headlinerWhen Kanye West was announced as the headliner for Wireless festival in London this summer, the backlash was immediate.“He’d been on a campaign of four or five years of antisemitic trolling,” Lanre Bakare, the Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent, tells Nosheen Iqbal. “Embracing neo-Nazi imagery, pushing out far-right conspiracy theories about Jewish people.” Continue reading...

Rapper, who is legally known as Ye, has been criticised for making antisemitic remarks including voicing admiration for Adolf HitlerUK politics live – latest updatesThe rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been banned from entering the UK, the Home Office has said.West, who is legally known as Ye, has had his visa to enter and perform in the UK withdrawn, the department said. Continue reading...

Rapper who has previously made antisemitic remarks responds to criticism over his booking at London festivalThe rapper formerly known as Kanye West has broken his silence and offered to “meet and listen” to members of the UK’s Jewish community after a fierce backlash over his booking at London’s Wireless festival.West, who is legally known as Ye, has been criticised for making antisemitic remarks including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer ‘is not a bystander’, says Campaign Against Antisemitism as it calls on him to stop rapper entering UKKanye West should be banned from entering the UK to perform at Wireless festival, the Campaign Against Antisemitism has urged.The Jewish charity is the latest voice to join calls for the rapper’s performance to be cancelled following his antisemitic remarks and raises doubts about whether the music festival, due to take place in London’s Finsbury Park in July, will go ahead. Continue reading...

PM says antisemitism is ‘abhorrent’ after booking of West, who has song called Heil Hitler and last year advertised swastika T-shirtKeir Starmer has said it is “deeply concerning” that Kanye West, the US rapper who has made a series of antisemitic comments, is to appear at a British music festival.The prime minister joins others who have criticised Wireless festival for booking the musician, also known as Ye, to headline all three nights of the forthcoming event in London. Continue reading...