Topline<\/p>\n
Kanye West is performing two shows at a Russian arena in St. Petersburg in October, the venue announced in a post on Telegram on Monday, months after the controversial rapper\u2019s shows in other European nations were canceled or delayed, and marking one of the biggest American artists to perform in the country since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.<\/p>\n
The rapper will perform two nights at St. Petersburg\u2019s Gazprom Arena, the venue said, after several European shows were canceled over his antisemitic remarks and imagery.<\/p>\n
Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
West is scheduled to perform two shows Oct. 10-11 at the 70,000-capacity Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg, the venue announced<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post called West \u201cthe most influential musical artist of our time\u201d and said the shows would be part of his \u201crecord-breaking world tour\u201d\u2014though stops have been canceled<\/a> in Poland, Italy, Switzerland, the U.K. and postponed in France after years of antisemitic comments, praise for Adolf Hitler and Nazi imagery found on past merchandise<\/a>.<\/p>\n The concerts were also confirmed by TASS, Russia\u2019s state-owned newswire, which claimed the cheapest tickets sold out within an hour after the shows were announced, Reuters<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n West was one of the most beloved hip hop artists to come out of the 2000s, winning 24 Grammy Awards and currently reaching over 69.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. However, his business empire collapsed and his public image was disgraced in recent years over increasingly erratic behavior and a constant stream of antisemitic remarks. He lost billionaire status<\/a> in 2022 after Adidas joined the list of companies severing ties with the rapper, while some countries revoked his visas. West repeatedly praised Nazi dictator and mass murderer Adolf Hitler, including releasing a song<\/a> called \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d in 2025. West eventually apologized<\/a> in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal in January, blaming his comments on bipolar disorder and a brain injury.<\/p>\n Contra<\/p>\n Despite the cancellations in some European countries, West\u2019s shows in others have gone ahead, drawing large crowds. In Turkey, West\u2019s show at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul drew a crowd of 118,000 fans\u2014prompting West to claim this broke a record for largest crowd at a stadium show, although it\u2019s unclear whether this is accurate. Lady Gaga\u2019s free concert in Rio de Janeiro last year drew a crowd of 2.5 million, Variety<\/a> reported, though it was not at a stadium.<\/p>\n Forbes Valuation<\/p>\n West was briefly a billionaire, but hasn\u2019t reached that valuation since 2022. He lost his status after Adidas dissolved a deal with his brand Yeezy after his antisemitic comments and erratic behavior. That deal was worth an estimated $1.5 billion, Forbes estimated<\/a>, and losing the business dropped<\/a> the rapper\u2019s net worth down to $400 million.<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesKanye West Performs For 118,000 In Turkey\u2014Despite Cancellations Over Antisemitic BehaviorBy Ty Roush<\/a>ForbesKanye West Comeback Faces Setbacks As Shows Are Canceled And Pressure BuildsBy Asia Alexander<\/a>ForbesKanye West\u2019s Poland Concert Canceled After Government Backlash Over AntisemitismBy Asia Alexander<\/a>ForbesWireless Festival Canceled After Kanye West Denied U.K. EntryBy Asia Alexander and Mary Whitfill Roeloffs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline Kanye West is performing two shows at a Russian arena in St. Petersburg in October, the venue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,5099,341,6639,83269],"class_list":["post-861615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-kanye-west","tag-music","tag-russia","tag-ye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}