Kanye West’s performance at the 64th annual Grammy Awards has been canceled due to “concerning online behavior,” according to a report from the Blast Friday evening.
A source close to the Chicago rapper said his team received a phone call Friday evening, stating that West was pulled from the lineup of scheduled performers at the show.
Insiders said the Awards show has “unfortunately” made the decision “due to what they deem to be concerning online behavior.”
And since the 44-year-old had a 24-hour suspension from Instagram last week, his actions contributed to ultimately canceling his performance.
While Trevor Noah is expected to host the event, many believe the decision was made because the award show wanted to prevent a confrontation between the two men during the night’s festivities. West reportedly used racial slurs against The Daily Show host after calling out the “Touch the Sky” rapper’s behavior toward his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
Noah discussed the situation on his show last week, advising his audience to consider the situation as a serious matter rather than a publicity stunt, per Entertainment Weekly.
“I’ll be honest with you — what I see from the situation is a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything,” Noah said. “You may not feel sorry for Kim because she’s rich and famous, because she appropriates Black culture … but what she’s going through is terrifying to watch and shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”
As Sis2Sis previously reported, Ye made a racial attack against Noah on Instagram by writing the lyrics of “Kumbaya” as “k— baya my lord,” suggesting that Noah dismisses his ethnicity as a Black person. A spokesperson for Meta said West’s recent posts “violated Instagram’s policies on hate speech, harassment, and bullying.”
Noah responded to the musician’s racial comments and attempted to reconcile with him.
“You’re an indelible part of my life Ye,” he wrote. “Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump, and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do, however, care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain. Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on Black people was teaching us to strip each other of our Blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.”
West’s canceled Grammy performance has prompted other artists, including The Game, to defend him on social media.
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“Time & time again, they show us that they only want to STEAL the culture, not allow you to ever be their equals. In a more than obvious move for reasons of minuscule actions…. The Grammys have at the last minute decided to pull (Kanye West) from performing on the show as if we didn’t know it was coming,” the West Coast rapper wrote.
He continued, “Could be because (Trevor Noah) is hosting and there was a conversation held amongst his team & the academy that led to the decision or because Ye’s account was suspended just days ago for reasons unknown, especially in a world where all the negativities of the world can be found on the same app with no repercussions or suspensions…. We’ll just say it’s all of the above & a continuous disrespect for us & all that we have brought to the table in entertainment, media & sports over the last 100 years especially.”
Sources say they’re not surprised by the Grammy’s decision since West is up for five nominations, including Album of the Year.
The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will air on April 3 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
