Money seemingly trumped morality last week as Kanye West was backed by Live Nation for two shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, concerts which reportedly grossed $33 million.
Despite being canceled many times and going beyond the boundaries of acceptability for many, Kanye — now known as Ye — had one of the highest grossing shows at the stadium ever, proving there is still huge demand to listen to his music and see him perform.
This despite how in the last 18 months Kanye has stated on social media: “I love Hitler,” “I’m a Nazi,” “I have dominion over my wife,” “all white people are racist,” and “Jews were better as slaves.” He also profited by selling a T-shirt with a Nazi swastika on his website, made various antisemitic statements and released a track called “Heil Hitler.”
“He makes money. That is sort of the sentiment,” a music business analyst told Page Six, requesting to remain anonymous.
“With Ye, at the end of the day, it’s a gamble. You sort of know there’s a level of risk tolerance.
“If there’s ticket demand, somebody is going to take a gamble — a promoter, a company, a festival.”
While Live Nation had success with West in Los Angeles, it did not fare so well when the company booked him for the UK’s Wireless festival.
They feel West, 48, has apologized enough to justify his return. In the run up to his latest release, “Bully,” in January he had taken out an advert in the Wall Street Journal to proclaim “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
He also said he was sorry to the black community — for whom he has previously claimed “slavery was a choice” and baited by wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt — and his family. The root of his problems, West claimed, was his bipolar disorder which he says wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023.
“I aspire to earn your forgiveness,” West said in his letter. He had also met with a rabbi in New York last November to make amends with the community.
Then the mic dropped. As soon as Wireless was announced, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told The Sun newspaper last Sunday: “It is deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.”
Pepsi pulled out of the event the same day. Liquor sponsor Diageo, owner of Johnnie Walker and Casamigos, followed, then Rockstar energy drink. Paypal forbid its branding to be used, although it did not entirely drop out, BBC reported.
On Tuesday, the UK Home Office barred the “Heartless” rapper from entering the country entirely and Wireless Festival was canceled. West had been set to receive $15 million to play over the festival’s three nights, according to DailyMail.co.uk.
Live Nation and West did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
However, just because the stuffy, starched-collar English authorities have barred West, it doesn’t mean the comeback is over. He still has concert bookings in Italy, Spain, France, Turkey and the Netherlands this summer, as of press time.
A source close to West told The Post they are confident those dates will go ahead, saying: “I’m not seeing other countries following the UK.
“We’re going to keep doing big ‘Bully’ business. More music to come. Ye is feeling himself again.”
West now exists in a curious space whereby he is instantly recognizable and still has an audience, but is considered taboo within the mainstream.
He is in a small —but growing — category of people like misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, who is banned from all major streaming platforms, or the Irish political rap group Kneecap, who have been accused of hate speech and banned from touring the US. Both still have large audiences online.
Seth Schachner, a former Sony Music executive and host of the music business podcast, “Breaking Down The Biz,” told Page Six West’s scandals may have even helped him as much as they hurt him with some audiences.
“The irony is that he and others can live digitally. He’s not being pulled down from Spotify. The catalogue is still up there. Unfortunately, this type of attention — you see it when a government or someone bans something — the digital results, the inverse, you see more of it,” Schachner said.
One of the things to have arguably kept West’s name in the spotlight has been his wife, Australian model and artist Bianca Censori, whose almost-naked appearances at events have drawn plenty of headlines and helped keep them both relevant.
She has only given one interview, where she said of West’s controversies: “You know, he has to go through his process in how he amends that, and I’m here to support and love and be with him.”
West married Censori in 2022, shortly after finalizing his divorce from Kim Kardashian, who he wed in 2014 and with whom he shares four children: North, 12, Saint,10, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6.
Kardashian filed for divorce in 2021, citing a “lack of stability” as Kanye went through earlier meltdowns and mental health battles.
“I didn’t like the feeling of… someone talking bad about my kids’ grandmother, aunts,” she told the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in 2025, adding: “I didn’t know… what you’re going to get when you wake up. And that’s a really unsettling feeling.”
At the time of the divorce, West was technically a billionaire, but the fallout from antisemitic statements he made at that time saw Adidas cancel their shoe line with him. He was also dropped by Gap clothing, fashion house Balenciaga, Def Jam records and others.
West and Kardashian now co-parent their children and North appeared with her father at his So Fi shows, collaborating on songs “Talking” and “Piercing on My Hand.”
More than 70,000 fans appeared at the shows including comedian like Dave Chappelle, actress Chloe Bailey and singer Erykah Badu.
“Hip hop audiences never fully gave up on him,” a music manager told Page Six, although they added: “His lack of meaningful action to undo his past is hurting him.”
Those close to West disagree.
“He’s apologized, he’s done what he can do and it’s over,” said his pal.
Asked about the UK ban on the rapper, the friend insisted: “This is just the British Government virtue signaling, they haven’t done their research.
“People believe in Ye, and they believe he was suffering from a mental health issue.”
Those with bipolar disorder have mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs, they can have “unhelpful negative thoughts and ruminations” and “get symptoms of paranoia and delusions,” according to charity Bipolar UK.
Medical experts agree manic episodes lead people to do things they wouldn’t usually. However, there is little research to suggest it manifests in racist outbursts.
The question is if there is enough gray area for the public and corporations are to accept West’s justifications and apologies —currently, it seems it could go either way.
“An advertisement, generating publicity before a concert tour. It does not erase years of abuse … it’s fine for his famous pals to pat him on the back and say, ‘It’s all good.’ But the community he has harmed most has no reason to trust his apology is authentic,” wrote actor and director David Schwimmer on X this week.
Jonah Hill, who is also Jewish, had a different take. He said he thinks West is “probably the greatest artist ever to live,” and hopes “whatever happens, he can heal or whatever, and everyone can heal from all that stuff.”
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