Kanye West’s erratic behavior in his personal life may have just cost him a huge gig. The rapper was supposed to perform at the 2022 Grammy Awards, but according to a report by The Blast the offer has been “pulled.” Insiders said that Grammy organizers decided to rescind the offer based on West’s “concerning online behavior.”
Sources close to West said that his team received a call on Friday night informing them that he would no longer be performing at the Grammy’s. His team then confirmed that the awards show organizers had “unfortunately” decided to take him off the lineup “due to what they deem to be concerning online behavior.” West has been posting about his divorce from Kim Kardashian all over social media, stirring up outrage among his fans and concern for the safety of Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson.
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Sources close to the Grammys added that organizers were concerned about any potential interactions between West and the show’s host, Trevor Noah. Noah condemned West’s behavior on The Daily Show on Tuesday night, and West responded in a prolonged Instagram post on Wednesday. It included racial slurs against Noah, which ultimately got West banned from the social media platform.
“I’ll be honest with you – what I see from the situation is a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything,” Noah said of West on Tuesday. “You may not feel sorry for Kim because she’s rich and famous, because she appropriates Black culture … but what she’s going through is terrifying to watch and shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”
West responded by altering the lyrics to “Kumbaya” with a racial slur referring to Black Americans who forsake their own culture and side with oppressors. The post got him banned from the platform for 24 hours, and further divided fans in the endless debate about who is more wrong in this publicity fiasco.
Noah, meanwhile, made a post acknowledging West’s contributions to art and pop culture and asking him to get help for his mental health struggles. He wrote: “You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump, and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do, however, care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain. Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on Black people was teaching us to strip each other of our Blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.”
The Grammys will still include performances by Billie Eilish, BTS, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and Jack Harlow. West’s record Donda is still nominated for album of the year. The Grammys will air live on Sunday, April 3 on CBS.
