Kanye West made a surprise appearance at Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus concert in Rome, Italy, on Monday (7 August).
This is the first time 46-year-old West has been on a stage ever since the row over the rapper’s antisemitic comments.
During his performance of tracks from his new album Utopia, Scott welcomed Ye to the stage to perform his tracks “Praise God” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.”
“There is no ‘Utopia’ without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West,” Scott said during the performance. “There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye.”
Scott’s event was originally intended to take place at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but the show was cancelled due to “complex production issues”.
Ye found himself mired in various controversies in 2022 after making a number of antisemitic comments on Twitter, which has since been rebranded as “X” by owner Elon Musk.
He also sparked a backlash when he debuted his fashion brand Yeezy’s “White Lives Matter” shirts during Paris Fashion Week in October last year.
In December 2022, Ye appeared on right-wing commentator Alex Jones’ show Infowars where he made the declaration that he “likes Hitler”, sparking a fresh wave of condemnation from celebrities and former fans.
Following multiple controversies, Ye was dropped by both Adidas and Balenciaga over what were branded as “hateful and dangerous” comments relating to Jewish people.
Despite all the backlash, Ye continued standing by his comments, adding to them by claiming that he “doesn’t believe” in the term antisemitism.
During another appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, the “Follow God” rapper claimed that George Floyd, who died at the hands of a Minnesota police officer, actually had taken the drug Fentanyl and that a police officer’s knee “wasn’t even on his neck like that”. In response, the mother of Floyd’s daughter sued Kanye West for $250m.
Elsewhere in the interview, West shared a number of theories, and claimed that he’d been “blocked” by the “Jewish media”.
The episode was later deleted, with host N.O.R.E apologising and claiming that the most offensive comments were not meant to have made the final edit.
Since the controversy, Ye has largely stayed away from the public eye, until now. The rapper’s Twitter account, now called X, was also reinstated this month. He was suspended eight months ago for hate speech.
In May this year, Ye reportedly married to Bianca Censori in a private ceremony, after which the couple were spotted wearing wedding rings.
The “Closed On Sunday” rapper’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Ye in 2021. After that, the Atlanta rapper started lashing out on social media against Kardashian, her family, and her then-boyfriend Pete Davidson.
