Kanye West performs to 118,000 in Turkey despite bans elsewhere

ISTANBUL, May 31 (Reuters) – American rapper Kanye West, who has been banned from giving concerts in many countries due to his past anti-Semitic comments, attracted more than 100 thousand fans to his concert in Istanbul on Saturday night.

West, also known as Ye, faced a wave of cancellations across Europe this summer after years of anti-Semitic statements, including statements praising Adolf Hitler and the publication of content using Nazi imagery.

According to Anadolu Agency, Ye performed for two hours in front of 118 thousand spectators at Istanbul Ataturk Olympic Stadium, for the first time in Europe since 2014, and for the first time in Türkiye.

Anadolu said that there were fans from England, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Poland and the Middle East among the audience.

The 48-year-old rapper will give a concert in the Netherlands on June 6 and 8.

Ye faced global backlash, particularly for his release of “Heil Hitler”, a song supporting Nazism.

In April, the UK denied Ye entry on the grounds that his presence would not be in the public interest, causing his planned appearance at the Wireless Festival in London to be cancelled.

Later that month, he also postponed his concert in Marseille following reports that the French government was trying to block the show and the concert in Poland was later also cancelled.

In January, Ye took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal renounced his past admiration for Hitler and apologized for behavior that he attributed to undiagnosed brain damage and untreated bipolar disorder.

(Reporting by Hüseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Kevin Liffey)