{"id":21010,"date":"2026-05-30T18:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/21010\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T18:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:18:09","slug":"kanye-west-gig-in-italy-cancelled-over-public-order-and-safety-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/21010\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West gig in Italy cancelled over \u2018public order and safety issues\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Kanye West concert in Italy has been cancelled over \u201cpublic order and safety issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 48-year-old rapper, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, was due to perform at the Pulse of Gaia Festival at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia on July 18, but the city\u2019s prefect Salvatore Angieri stopped the gigs after \u201cconcerns\u201d from the local Jewish community over previous antisemitic remarks by West.<\/p>\n

A concert on July 17 by fellow US rapper Travis Scott at Hellwatt Festival has also been cancelled due to the two festivals being scheduled on consecutive days.<\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/p>\n

Travis Scott (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

Scott faced criticism after 10 people aged between nine and 27 died at his Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas, in 2021 after fans surged towards the stage.<\/p>\n

A translation of a statement issued by the government of Reggio Emilia after a meeting over the concert\u2019s future, read: \u201cThe meeting was dedicated to examining the public order and safety issues associated with the American artist\u2019s (West) concert and the Travis Scott event, also scheduled at the RCF Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the assessments made during the committee meeting and further investigations into safety and security aspects, the prefect\u2026 (ordered) the prohibition of both concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision concerns two events scheduled for consecutive dates at the RCF Arena, a venue with a capacity of approximately 103,000 spectators, and was made to ensure public order and safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the close temporal connection between the events and the large crowds expected within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall assessment also took into account the cancellation of previous concerts by the American rapper in other countries and the real risk of counter-demonstrations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, West\u2019s show in Marseille, France, was postponed after he had been denied a UK visa earlier that month, which led to the cancellation of his headline appearances at London\u2019s Wireless Festival, following backlash due to antisemitic remarks.<\/p>\n

\"Kanye<\/p>\n

Kanye West (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

West released a song called Heil Hitler in 2025, and previously advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. He has also been criticised for posting tweets of an antisemitic nature and describing slavery as \u201ca choice\u201d.<\/p>\n

In January, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal to apologise, titled: \u201cTo Those I\u2019ve Hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cI am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that his bipolar disorder led him to fall into \u201ca four-month-long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the cancellation of his Wireless performances West offered to meet the Jewish community in London \u201cto listen\u201d.<\/p>\n

West has had three number one singles and three number one albums in the UK and is best known for songs including Black Skinhead, Gold Digger and Stronger, while Scott has had five UK top 10 singles and one number one album in Utopia.<\/p>\n

West will perform at Istanbul\u2019s Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Turkey on Saturday and is still due to perform at Vitesse Arnhem\u2019s Gelredome football stadium in the Dutch city on June 6 and 8.<\/p>\n

Scott and West have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kanye West concert in Italy has been cancelled over \u201cpublic order and safety issues\u201d. The 48-year-old rapper,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,2315,15146,15145,15072,6647],"class_list":["post-21010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-italy","tag-kanye-west","tag-public-order-and-safety","tag-public-order-and-safety-issues","tag-travis-scott","tag-wireless-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}