Kanye West calls off Poland show as ‘formal and legal reasons’ arise
A Kanye West concert in Poland has been cancelled following government pressure concerning his long-charted history of making anti-Semitic comments.
West, who now goes by the name Ye, was scheduled to appear at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów on June 19, marking his first performance in Poland for 15 years.
However, the venue said on Friday that it would not go ahead with the show “due to formal and legal reasons.”
It came after the country’s Culture Minister, Marta Cienkowska, condemned the rapper, arguing that his history of offensive remarks should bar him from performing in a nation “scarred by the history of the Holocaust.”
“We cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” Cienkowska said. “We are talking about an artist who has publicly made anti-Semitic remarks, relativised crimes, and profited from selling T-shirts with a swastika. These are not ‘controversies.’ This is a deliberate crossing of a boundary and a normalisation of hate.”
She concluded by saying culture could not “be a space for those who use it to spread contempt.”
Stadium director Adam Strzyzewski took to Facebook to make a statement further explaining that the concert was axed because of “formal and legal reasons.”
It comes after Ye postponed a scheduled show in France indefinitely, saying it was his “sole decision” to do so earlier this week. He was set to perform at the Marseille Velodrome on June 11 as part of his 2026 world tour, in support of his new album Bully.
He took to X/Twitter on Wednesday, April 15, to confirm that the concert would not be taking place as planned, writing, “After much thought and consideration, it is my sole decision to postpone my show in Marseille, France until further notice.”
