Swiss Football Club Becomes Latest Venue to Say No to Ye

Photo Credit: birdeye.ch

A Swiss football club has cancelled a Kanye West concert at St. Jakob-Park, stating that after a review, they found it did not align with their values.

Swiss football club FC Basel has decided not to host a Kanye West concert at its St. Jakob-Park stadium, making it the latest European venue to turn the controversial rapper away. The concert was seemingly not yet scheduled, but a spokesperson for FC Basel (FCB) said they had reviewed the request and opted not to move forward with it.

“FCB received an enquiry [to host West] and considered it. However, after thorough review, we have decided not to proceed with the project, as we cannot, in accordance with our values, provide a platform for the artist in question within this context,” a club spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

According to Swiss media, the concert would have taken place in June. The move makes Switzerland the latest in a growing list of European countries to have cancelled or prevented the 48-year-old musician from traveling there in the first place.

On Friday, a Polish stadium said it was cancelling a scheduled West concert due to “formal and legal reasons.” West himself, who now goes by Ye, said a few days earlier that he had postponed a show in France—as rumors swirled that the country was going to cancel on him, anyway. Prior to that, Britain prevented Ye from traveling there to headline Wireless Festival, which was ultimately cancelled.

In January, West apologized (yet again) for his rampant antisemitic behavior in recent years, which he attributed to untreated bipolar disorder and a car accident that took place over 20 years ago. But an apology has not been enough to convince numerous venues across Europe (and Australia) to welcome him.

However, he played two sold-out shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium earlier this month as part of his proposed comeback tour, which accompanies his latest album, Bully. The album has had underwhelming sales for an artist of his former clout, especially up against K-pop princes BTS and their comeback album, ARIRANG.