{"id":519505,"date":"2026-07-10T16:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/519505\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:33:11","slug":"albania-defends-funding-kanye-west-concert-says-it-will-put-capital-on-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/519505\/","title":{"rendered":"Albania defends funding Kanye West concert, says it will put capital on map"},"content":{"rendered":"

TIRANA, Albania \u2014\u00a0Albania\u2019s government on Friday defended its payment of four million euros ($4.6 million) to support the upcoming performance by US rapper Kanye West in its capital, amid reports of weak ticket sales.<\/p>\n

Albania\u2019s Prime Minister Edi Rama is facing criticism from opposition figures and arts groups in the country after announcing the funding support for Saturday\u2019s concert.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes as daily protests demanding Rama\u2019s resignation, first sparked by a planned resort linked to US President Donald Trump\u2019s family in the country\u2019s south, spill into a second month.<\/p>\n

The movement, triggered by the development in a protected nature reserve, has become a catalyst for anger over perceived corruption in the country.<\/p>\n

Responding to the criticism in a press statement, the country\u2019s culture minister, Blendi Gonxhe, said it was important to ensure the concert went ahead to put Tirana on the \u201cmap of capitals hosting events of this scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe success of a concert is not only measured by the revenue from ticket sales,\u201d Gonxhe said, citing estimated benefits to tourism that the event could bring.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProtesters walk through a protest installation past a sign which reads \u201cAntisemitism is a poison that we must continue to fight,\u201d outside of a venue where Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will perform, June 6, 2026. (Mouneb Taim\/AP)<\/p>\n

The rapper has caused widespread outrage with comments glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a song titled \u201cHeil Hitler,\u201d and the sale of T-shirts bearing a swastika on his website.<\/p>\n

He has since denied being antisemitic and distanced himself from his remarks on social media, attributing them to his bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

Albania\u2019s funding announcement sparked anger among the country\u2019s arts community, with a group of creatives protesting outside the ministry on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Andi Tepelena, a contemporary art curator, told AFP on Friday: \u201cAlbania has many emergencies and priorities,\u201d but Rama chose instead to fund an artist who \u201csupported fascism, antisemitism and justified slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concert, which required a purpose-built structure on the city\u2019s outskirts, was planned to host 60,000, but local media say ticket sales have fallen well short.<\/p>\n

Rama previously said that 25,000 tickets had been sold to foreign visitors and that funding had been offered to prevent it from being cancelled and \u201cavoid embarrassing Albania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonxhe also said the stadium build had cost about 2.2 million euros ($2.5 million)\u00a0 \u2014 denying earlier reports it had cost up to 60 million ($68.6 million).<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TIRANA, Albania \u2014\u00a0Albania\u2019s government on Friday defended its payment of four million euros ($4.6 million) to support the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[18641,38608,157261,156,17365,157,111,139,69,13316],"class_list":["post-519505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-albania","tag-antisemitism","tag-edi-rama","tag-entertainment","tag-kanye-west","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-protests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}