Kanye West fans chant for refund at chaotic Shanghai gig

CNA

14-07-2025

Kanye West's fans chanted for a refund at his Shanghai concert after he turned up more than 40 minutes late.
The controversial rapper, now known as Ye, took to the stage at Shanghai Stadium on Saturday night (Jul 12) and was not only reported by The Global Times to be significantly delayed getting onstage, but his set was plagued by technical difficulties, with some fans even taking to social media to complain about the lack of production.
A clip has gone viral online of the moment the 70,000-strong crowd erupted and demanded a refund.
What's more, one fan accused him of lip syncing.
They wrote on X: "Mostly lip synching. His microphone must have been up less than 20 per cent of the time."
The same user, with the username @Fabian_Lemuel, also claimed Ye left the stage for 20 minutes during the encore as his music played over the sound system.
The disappointed gig-goer wrote: "For the encore, he disappeared for over 20 minutes at one point as tracks like Wolves just played out with him nowhere in sight. I could have just played your music at home man. Came to see u perform???? (sic)"
The concert marked Ye's first since September 2024.
It also came days after he was accused of sexual assault and "oral rape" by his former assistant, in an addendum to a suit previously filed last year.
The Stronger hitmaker was first sued by Lauren Pisciotta – who worked for the rapper from 2021 until she was fired the following year – in 2024 for sexual harassment, when she claimed he had sent her explicit texts and pornographic videos, photos and calls, and she followed up and filed a second amended complaint which alleged assault, sexual battery and other allegations.
In a complaint obtained by People magazine, the woman accused Ye of having 'attempted to vaginally penetrate Ms. Pisciotta with his fingers' and also having 'orally raped her without her consent' while she worked for him.
Pisciotta alleged the 48-year-old star tried to kiss her multiple times without her consent before succeeding once during a trip to San Francisco in 2021.
When Pisciotta filed her lawsuit last year, Ye's legal representative denied the allegations and accused her of "blackmail and extortion" with the "baseless" claims.
Ye has only played a handful of gigs in recent years and has lost brand deals and been dropped by huge names since making a series of antisemitic outbursts.