Music festival cancelled after petition against 'one of world's most famous anti-semites' Kanye West
In May, West, who also goes by Ye, released a song entitled Heil Hitler, which includes part of a speech given by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. West has written antisemitic posts on social media the past. In February, he bought an ad that played during the 2025 Super Bowl promoting his brand, Yeezy, which was only selling white T-shirts with swastikas at the time.
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The petition, called Kanye West Does Not Belong in Bratislava, garnered more than 6,200 signatures online. It described West as someone who has 'repeatedly and openly espoused the symbolism and ideology associated with the darkest period of modern world history.'
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During the Second World War, 70,000 Jews were deported from Slovakia by German and Slovak authorities, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. More than 60,000 of them were murdered.
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The Rubicon Festival was scheduled for the weekend of July 18, featuring American rappers Ken Carson, Offset and Kanye West as headliners, in Bratislava. In a post on Instagram on Wednesday, festival organizers said it would 'not take place this year.'
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'Due to media pressure and the withdrawal of several artists and partners, we were unable to deliver the festival at the standard of quality you deserve,' it said. The organizers did not mention West by name. They said information regarding refunds would be sent via email within two weeks.
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According to Czech news site CT24, after receiving backlash, festival organizers said that they included West in their lineup because he had apologized for his remarks.
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However, one of the petition's co-authors disagreed with allowing the rapper to perform, despite his apology.
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'Such opinions should have no place in a democratic society and we do not want to give such role models to our young people,' Zuzana Izsáková told the publication.
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