A Slovak festival that was expected to welcome Kanye West next week has been canceled following unrest caused by the release of a song by the American rapper praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Before the cancellation of the July 20 concert, the Rubicon hip-hop festival in Bratislava was scheduled to be Kanye's only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.
Although he has won 24 Grammy Awards during his career, the rapper has become known for his increasingly anti-Semitic and hateful lyrics.
Kanye West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, released the song "Heil Hitler" on May 8, the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II. The song ends with a portion of a speech Adolf Hitler gave in 1935 in the original German text, which ends with the Nazi leader urging his supporters to "protect me as I protected you."
The song was banned in Germany due to its extremist symbolism under laws against hate speech and was removed from most major streaming platforms, but it went viral and found support on Elon Musk's X platform.
View this post on Instagram
After the announcement of West's appearance at Rubicon, thousands of people signed a petition against the concert, calling it "an insult to historical memory, a glorification of the violence of war, and a humiliation of all victims of the Nazi regime."
During World War II, more than 70,000 Slovak Jews were taken to concentration camps, handed over to German authorities, and killed.
In an announcement on Instagram late Wednesday evening, July 9, festival organizers said the decision to cancel the event was "due to media pressure and the withdrawal of several artists and collaborators."
View this post on Instagram
The Rubicon Festival, which is considered one of the leading hip-hop events in Central Europe, was scheduled to take place from July 18 to 20. American rappers Offset and Sheck Wes were to share the stage with West.
It was also revealed this month that Australia revoked Kanye's visa over the song, in which the rapper talks about his custody battle with his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. His current wife, Bianca Sensori, is Australian.
