Kanye West rep says he’s been pulled from performing at the 2022 Grammys
So far, Grammys organizers haven't commented on whether West was even offered a performance spot in the first place
Aux News Kanye west
A representative for musician Kanye West has issued a statement to Variety this weekend, confirming a report that West had been dis-invited from performing at this year’s Grammy’s ceremony. The representative apparently cited a report posted on The Blast yesterday that said West had been banned from performing at the April 3 event, over “concerning online behavior”. Which is presumably a nice way of describing the ongoing harassment West has been directing toward his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and her new boyfriend, Pete Davidson.
Here’s where this story gets kind of nebulous and weird, though. (And we realize that Paragraph Two seems kind of early for that particular segue, but such is life on the Kanye beat.) At no point have the Grammys announced that West was ever going to be involved this year—despite the fact that his album Donda, and its various tracks, are nominated in four categories, including Best Album. Variety notes that the Grammys—which announced the first wave of performers at this year’s ceremony, including BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow, Brandi Carlile, and Brothers Osborne, on Tuesday—have so far not responded to requests for comment about West’s involvement, or lack thereof.
The upshot of which is that the narrative here is currently being dictated entirely by West’s camp, and by allies like rapper The Game, who posted a lengthy paragraph on Instagram painting West’s non-inclusion as a slight against Black performers and hip-hop, and not, say, a fairly rational decision to not put Kanye West within spitting distance of a TV camera, a microphone, and a national audience.
The whole situation is only made more complicated by the fact that this year’s Grammys are being hosted by The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, who recently devoted airtime on his series to talking about West’s behavior toward his ex—which swiftly brought about a response from West on Instagram, which swiftly brought about a 24-hour ban from the service for the musician.
The question here, then, becomes one of whether West was initially offered a spot on the show, which was then rescinded, or whether Grammys organizers simply declined to include him in the first place. Which, again, would not be an unreasonable position—especially in light of West recently used his headlining position at this year’s Coachella to try to dictate the behavior of fellow headliner Eilish, or basically anything else he’s done with his copious shots at the public spotlight in recent years.
85 Comments
Lol
“recent years”? First I’d ever heard of him was when he stole the mike and spotlight from a teenaged Taylor Swift.
Its crazy to think Taylor Swift is closer to her 40s than her teens.
It’s hardly “crazy” these days for people to survive to 29 – even pop musicians.
That’s not what he meant and you know it.
Eh. If you were in your 20s when Taylor dropped her first album, it’s gotta be a trio that you’re 40 and she’s 32.
I think the same thing about myself.
I’m about to be 56 and I still act like a 12 year old!
Also when he blurted out George Bush hates black people at a Hurricane Katrina telethon. Now that I think of it that was probably one of his most sane public outburst.
How did he go from “George Bush hates black people” to “slavery is exaggerated by the leftist media”???
Too much money, a privilege bubble, and possibly a manic bipolar phase impairing his judgment.
As a bipolar person (who takes my medication) I watch Kanye and his behavior seems like textbook bipolarity.
I too believe I am genius and that my brain works differently than everyone else’s and they just don’t get it.
Then I take my medication and those delusions go away and I realize I’m just an average gal that’s bipolar.
Oh yeah, it’s not just that it seems like it. He shared that he has a bipolar diagnosis a few years ago.
That’s what I thought, but I didn’t want to misspeak. (miswrite?)
Candace Owens
mental health breakdowns and being surrounded by yes-men and handlers that won’t get him the help that he needs
He saw a fellow narcissist use racism and anti-liberalism to build a rabidly loyal fanbase and obtain a position of significant power and said. “So that’s how it’s done.”
This is the same dude who opened a pop up store in NY to try to sell coats with the Confederate flag on them.
one can believe both are true at the same time
Those two things aren’t different in his mind, the guy is mentally ill and will blurt out whatever pops into his head.
The same way he ran a fake campaign to try and distract blacks while sending his rep to harass a black woman and her daughter to give credence to Trumps lies two days before January 6th, 2021.
I’ve always suspected that if not for that outburst, his career probably would have quietly languished in near-obscurity.
It’s hard to believe, but surprisingly, Taylor Swift has never dated a Mike. And neither has Kanye, for that matter. Where are you getting your facts from?
That should have gotten him a lifetime ban from the Grammys.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Grammy’s tells Kanye west To give it a Kanye rest Acting like he’s giving us his Kanye best But frankly we think we need a little Kanye less
despite the fact that his album Donda, and its various tracks, are nominated in four categories, including Best Album
This is the most shocking part of the story. Not that I know or care about who is winning Grammys these days but man, talk about a reach. Sounds like it’s still “famous person X releases album, automatically gets nominated for best of their genre and usually album of year.” So, Ye is now up there with Dylan, Springsteen, et al.? I don’t tend to listen to many artists who might be on the Grammy’s radar to know if it was just a slow year but that album is…not good.
Kanye is undeniably one of the most successful and influential artists of the 21st century, when it comes to his primary genre hip hop he is considered by nearly everyone to be one of the absolute best of all time. Dylan is probably a fair comparion, but I’d say he exceeds Springsteen by a fair bit.
when it comes to his primary genre hip hop he is considered by nearly everyone to be one of the absolute best of all timeCitation needed. He’s a pop star at this point. He certainly has chart hits that may make him more successful than nearly any other hip hop artist but he isn’t on anyone’s “ top X dead or alive” list that I know. I can’t deny his success and influence like I can’t deny Drake’s. We can go on and on about Ye’s legitimate influence as a producer while debating his rapping bona fides. I don’t want to get into him vs. Springsteen or anyone else as recording artists—my point was that when artists get big enough or old enough, the merits of their new works seem to be besides the point with the Grammys. This is already more mental energy than I’m willing to give him today.
I…actually can deny Drake’s influence? Drake’s impact amounts to being the first middling rapper to abandon their previous style and ape 808s in order to achieve pop stardom.
He’s about the last person I’m going to take up for but anyone with that level of success influences those who come after, for better or worse, by definition. I am not a fan but he’s one of the biggest selling artists of all time (based on however they translate current to the pre-streaming era) and a pop music superstar by any definition. There’s a line from T-Pain through Drake to a lot of other huge artists like Post Malone, Juice WRLD, The Weeknd, as well as plenty of other less-huge ones. Whether people directly take from him musically or benefit from a style that he popularizes is besides the point.
That’s fair – I guess I’d just characterize that line as being “through T Pain/Kanye/Akon/Cudi to Drake/Paak/Chance/Post Malone/The Weeknd.” Like, he’s a Pat Boone, capitalizing on an up-and-coming sound by sanitizing it for (literally) the DeGrassi Set, not a Little Richard or even an Elvis.
the pat boone example is probably the correctest of all, because….let’s be real, drake got the “correct” skin tone and he’s cute enough to be mediocre.
Yeah, the guy can’t sing, needs ghostwriters, and had middling flow…but he was already a sex symbol and became an early adopter of a style that doesn’t need to you rap, sing, or write, as long as you have the cash to pay the producers first rights for earworms.I feel like the current 20 year olds coming up in melodic take a lot more from Post and .Paak, who have pushed the genre forward, than Aubrey…who’s more of a lifestyle brand than an artist.
Shit, he’s the DJ Khaled of melodic rap.
Biggest selling has very little to do with most talented musician!
Have you ever heard of “lowest common denominator?”
Where did I say anything about most talented musician? The only qualitative arguments I’ve made in this entire thread are that Donda sucks and a lot of the work of established artists that the Grammys recognize are not necessarily deserving.
I was commenting on when you wrote “biggest seller.” I think we’re in agreement on the rest.
You’re really underestimating how influential Kanye was. He had a HUGE impact on rap. You mentioned Drake, but without 808s and Heartbreak, there wouldn’t even be a Drake.
Springsteen and Dylan were pop stars too.
Dylan is probably a fair comparion, but I’d say he exceeds Springsteen by a fair bit. PFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Ok, dated Rolling Stone article aimed at the dated
…no.
…which is a reputation built on his work up through around 2013 or so. That doesn’t mean Donde is worth any sort of awards recognition, any more than “St. Anger” (Grammy award winner for Best Metal Performance) was back in the day. Dollar, Dollar Bill is right, it’s an award nominated entirely on the basis of name recognition rather than the merits of the work itself.
He’s only considered one of the great hip hop artists by people who don’t really know hip hop, bruh.
“one of the most successful and influential artists of the 21st century,”People making this claim at the start of the third decade of said century always make me wonder if there were people saying “King Oliver is one of most successful and influential artists of the 20th century” in 1922.
You high as fuck.
No.
i’d add paul mccartney, U2 and sting to that list. every single time these dudes have a new album out, the grammys people fall over themselves to throw awards at them.
Sting put out some medieval music a while back. He’s playing a lute. It sounds like it’s from Shakespeare’s time. True musician.
I’d say Ye is actually up there with the other musical greats you mention (and others like them), in two ways:
1. He’s responsible for some of the best songs and albums of his generation in his respective genre, and
2. He appears to be coasting off of the goodwill of his older work in getting Grammy noms for new stuff that is far from his best work (we’ve seen that happen with countless rock and pop acts over the decades). Kanye’s old albums would always have a lot of music that was great and some that was simply transcendent. I didn’t hear that on Donda. Also, those old albums were very carefully crafted and layered, while Donda sounds like an unfinished demo of a better album (and from what I remember of the production process, it probably was “unfinished” when he put it out)
(Edited to add that, in case it doesn’t go without saying, none of this justifies or overshadows the fact that Ye is currently engaging in horrible and probably criminal behavior towards his ex and those around her an dthat he’s created a situation that is quite scary).
Doughy weirdo needs a timeout
To paraphrase Linda Smith, I don’t love giving Yasshole the oxygen of attention, because I’m not that keen on him having the oxygen of oxygen.
Given that live TV and someone in an active uncontrolled mental health spiral seem like a bad mix, this is a good call. Everyone involved in that situation needs help, protection, and care, not an audience.
Give his spot to Taylor Swift. “I’mma let you finish, Kanye, but first…”
Why would Kanye’s West’s rep be performing at the Grammys anyway?
This is all so unfortunate. I didn’t know that Noah is hosting the Grammys. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he got on twitter and started something with West. It looks like Noah intentionally provoked him, knowing West would strike back publicly and then get himself banned from the ceremonies. That’s some passive/aggressive sh*t. No, West probably shouldn’t be there, but that was a dirty trick, imo.
Meh, it may be “dirty” but it’s not wrong.
No, his mom was shot in the head by abusive boyfriend
I don’t see anything unfortunate about it, except that more action isn’t being taken against this lunatic (and I have the same diagnosis that he has so I can say that).And if Noah did plan it, as long as it worked, I’m fine with it!But seriously, I would hope any event planner would take a look at this guy and decide he’s not good for their business.
ok. Well, take care of yourself.
I do! I take my medication regularly and have a great support system.
It makes life so much more manageable in my experience.
I think Noah is speaking out against patterns of abuse and calling Kanye on what he’s doing – especially since he grew up in an abusive household and had to watch his mom go through bullshit so many times. It’s not a calculated move on Noah’s part, nor is it passive/aggressive. This is Noah’s job.
Not gonna lie, the drop of regular new content from the Gawker media sites is getting pretty noticable.
They’re all just reprinting content from other sites. Things were getting so bad by 2018 but, even so, the sites were still miles above this mess.
Spamfucker drove these sites into a dumpster fire, and decided to just keep adding more fuel to the fire. Sad how so many good writers left and now its a bunch of click bait obsessed blogger hacks.
You can tell the site is starved for content when they’re not even reviewing most of the Arrowverse shows anymore, which used to be their bread and butter.
I only bother coming around once or twice a week now, if that.
Same. Especially since it is virtually impossible to get out of the grays on most of their sites. (Thank you AVClub for letting me out!) I used to be able to comment on almost every one of their sites, but it seems like now they’re just willfully snubbing people. Way to get repeat customers!
Kanye’s face always looks like he’s in the process of storing nuts for the winter.
Drop him off on Easter Island.
He has resting blue steel face.
Even if you discounted what should be automatically disbarring harassment of his ex-wife, as a musician why is he even being invited to perform when musically he’s not released a highly-rated album in nearly half a decade?
Call me crazy but could it be possible that Kanye claiming he’s been uninvited is just completely fabricated by Kanye in an attempt to make it seem like he’s being cancelled by Davidson/Kardashian’s fans??
It could be simply that I WISH this were the case, ah well.
I wouldn’t put it past Kanye, but I believe someone from the Grammy’s would call him on that.
Who still gives a shit about this gigantic talentless asshole?
Now that’s a good question! I imagine maybe Kim and Pete – but for all the wrong reasons.
What is this, 2006? No one gives a fuck about what The Game thinks about anything.
Same bozo that was bragging about bagging a post wall Tori Spelling in the middle of her marriage.
WOW, something good came out of the grammy’s finally
You know if the media all agreed to not do a story about Kayne for a week he would literally disappear. He’s an attention demon feeding on the press he gets for being who he is. Let us all recall the Simpsons and “Just don’t look” and he will go away
Guy should be pulled from basic life. Someone needs to stick this guy somewhere where he cannot hurt himself or others anymore. Maybe next to some fat white guy who sounds like Micheal Jackson,.
So, when is Kanye West gonna go into conservatorship — or is that only reserved for women?
He’s experiencing Actions Have Consequences, probably for the first time in his life.
I love how this guy got a Netflix special after trying to run interference for Trump in Atlanta by sending his rep to harass a voting poll worker and her daughter, and with his bogus presidential campaign.