Transcript
Noshi Nikbal (0:00)
This is the Guardian. Today. What happened to Kanye West?
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Noshi Nikbal (0:43)
A warning before we start. This episode does contain anti Semitic and offensive language. He was once hailed as an American genius, a prime example of black excellence. He revolutionized rape, became a hip hop billionaire, all the while influencing the world of fashion, art, design. Kanye west had a grip on the culture like few before him until.
Lanre Bakare (1:09)
Kanye west has posted on a variety of topics, including President Trump, whom he calls his brother. He's been locked out of his Twitter account. Now the platform suspending him after an anti Semitic tweet. That tweet said, quote, when I wake up, I'm going DEFCON 3 on Jewish people.
Kanye West (quotes) (1:28)
This is what I'm trying to tell you. Jesus Christ, Hitler, Yang, we don't have to bow to this shit, okay? It's 60 million of us in America. 60 million Jews in the world.
Noshi Nikbal (1:39)
He hadn't played a show in the UK for over a decade, and he was booked to headline three nights this summer at Wireless Festival in London. But then the government intervened. From the Guardian, I'm Noshi Nikbal. Today in focus, why the UK has banned Kanye West. Lenro Bakare, you're the Guardian's arts and culture correspondent, and I think it's fair to say you're pretty steeped in Kanye Ology, for want of a better word. And you know, this does mean, of course, you've had to track a catalog of outlandish, offensive, hateful things that he said and done over the years. There is no shortage of it. But to the story at hand, last week it was announced that Kanye west was booked to play London's Wireless Festival this summer, headlining three nights in a row. By the weekend, the Prime Minister had made a statement. And the story has dominated your beat and beyond. Where did this all start?
Lanre Bakare (2:39)
Well, it started where, as you just flagged there, he's booking at Wireless. So Wireless is a three day festival held in Finsbury park every year and. And they book R and B and rap artists, so huge artists have played there asap. Rocky, Skepta, Doja Cat, and last year Drake played and they changed the format. So last year Drake played three days in a row, which was a change of format, which makes booking that festival a bit More difficult. You need someone who is absolutely a list to carry that. And there aren't that many artists in the world who could do it. Kanye west is definitely one of them. But obviously it comes with this huge amount of baggage. And it seemed as if Wylas had made a calculation that Wyler's all this baggage. He's this huge A list person who can sell out the event and will bring a lot of media attention and it will be one of the biggest cultural moments of the year. Probably the cultural moment of the year for some people, but it's fair to say it's backfired. Spectacular. There was an incredible quote after they announced it. They said that West's UK comeback will be an extraordinary chapter in wireless story, which has turned out to be incredibly prophetic, but for all the wrong reasons. Cause there isn't gonna be a festival this year. Cause it's been cancelled.
