Thousands sign petition against rapper Ye performing in Prague, mayor agrees
The rapper Ye, who formerly went by the name Kanye West, may perform in Prague in the near future. However, a petition has been launched to protest against the potential performance, and Mayor of Prague Bohuslav Svoboda is likewise opposed to the idea of Prague hosting such an event.
In mid-July, the hip-hop festival Rubicon, planned to be held in the outskirts of Bratislava, was cancelled, shortly before it was due to begin. The event’s lineup made waves due to the inclusion of controversial rap star Ye, formerly known professionally as Kanye West, and a petition against his appearance was launched in Slovakia.
After the cancellation, festival organiser Hugo Varga then claimed that Ye’s concert would be rescheduled to September and relocated to Prague. On August 12th, the Slovak server aktuality.sk also reported that the concert would instead take place in Prague, but details of the relocation have not been confirmed.
Ye has had a prominent career for three decades, but with highs and lows. Ye remains influential as one of the world's best-selling performers, with 160 million records sold and twenty-four Grammy Awards won.
However, his political and social opinions have caused offence and controversy, especially since 2022. The rapper has previously labelled himself an “anti-Semite”, a “Nazi”, and a “racist”, predominantly on the X social network. In May, Ye published a song titled ‘Heil Hitler’, which was subsequently pulled from all major streaming platforms. He was denied entry into Australia after releasing the song and publicly denying the Holocaust.
In response to the claim that Ye’s performance would be relocated to the Czech capital, several thousand people in Czechia (14,699 as of 19/8) have signed a newly created petition. Among the well-known personalities involved are the filmmaker and journalist Apolena Rychlíková, the influencer Johana Bázlerová, and the director of the Konsent organisation Johanna Nejedlová. She shared her motivations as one of the petition’s founders:
“Kanye West has long expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, relativised Nazi crimes, released the song ‘Heil Hitler’, and so it seemed to us that, especially as a state that has experience with the Nazi occupation, we should come together and say that Prague is simply not a place to celebrate Hitler.”
The petition reads in part: “Our capital must not provide a platform for the promotion of hatred and ideologies that have led to millions of human tragedies … As residents of the Czech Republic, we have prepared this open letter to the mayor and members of the Prague Council”. The petition therefore calls on the city leadership to take a position against the proposed performance.
The PrahaIN.cz server managed to obtain the opinion of Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda last Thursday. Mr. Svoboda stated that “the city can only decide on its own properties in the management of culture, and such an event will not receive support there”. The mayor identifies with the position of Deputy Minister for Culture Jiří Pospíšil, who himself stated on Facebook that he is “strongly against Kanye West performing in Prague. A person who does not hide his admiration for Hitler has no business in Prague!”
Prague City Hall therefore intends not to facilitate any performance by Ye. However, if it turns out to be an event held on private, not municipal property, it may nonetheless go ahead.
