Portugal refuses to back down over Israeli demand on Kanye West show
The Israeli ambassador had to issue a statement on social media to axe Kanye West's show
A day before Kanye West's hotly anticipated concert in Estádio Algarve – a stadium that sits between two Portuguese cities, Faro and Loulé – Oren Rozenblat, Israeli ambassador to the southwestern European country, released a fiery message.
In a video on Instagram, he urged the Ye concert to be axed, then shared a series of reasons why the cancellation had to be made.
"Someone who glorified Hitler, promoted antisemitism and claimed that slavery was a choice, a remark that deeply offended millions of descendants of slavery's victims," th ambassador said.
"This is not provocation; it is hate speech," he said, adding the above accusations have been enough to shut down the controversial rapper's concert.
Adding weight to his argument, Rozenblat pointed to several countries that have already taken down West's performances over his alleged promotion of anti-semitism as well as Nazism.
Before sharing how he urged Faro's mayor to cancel the concert, the ambassador asked a pertinent question, "Would you buy a ticket for an artist who promoted hatred against Black people, against Muslims, against Christians or against LGBT people? If the answer is no, why should it be any different when the target is Jews?
Despite the plea and pressure, West's concert went ahead, and nearly 34,000 fans attended, with nearly everything in the show going smoothly, according to Euro News.
Since Ye's apology and his subsequent tour to multiple countries drew mixed responses from fans and authorities, with many flocking to his shows while some administrators put their feet down on his concerts.
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