One thing you will definitely not see if you tune in for the 2022 Grammy Awards is a performance from Kanye West. On Friday night, the Blast reported that the rapper had been barred from performing at the Grammys (he’s nominated for five this year) due to his “concerning online behaviour,” and, by Saturday, his rep had confirmed the news to major outlets, like Variety, which shared a pretty 😳 account of said confirmation:
A rep for West sent Variety a link to [the Blast] story, saying only “This is confirmed”; the rep did not respond to requests for further information, although the Blast report states, “Our sources say Kanye’s team isn’t surprised by the decision.”
Same, Kanye’s team, because, TBH, the decision isn’t surprising (or at least *really* shouldn’t be) for anyone who has been following the “concerning online behaviour” that led to it. Earlier this week, he was hit with a 24-hour suspension from Instagram after he posted a racial slur aimed at Trevor Noah following a Daily Show segment criticizing Kanye’s public harassment of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson.
In addition to rebukes from Instagram and the Grammys, Kanye’s recent ex, Julia Fox, is also distancing herself from him. On Sunday morning, TMZ reported that Julia had walked back on previous comments that Kanye was “harmless” when asked about his behaviour toward Kim and Pete. “I would like to point out that I had not seen the latest Instagram posts at the time of this [comment],” she clarified. “Believe it or not I have a life and a son, and I don’t have google alerts for this man!”
As for Kanye’s Grammys ban, Variety reports that reps for the Recording Academy and CBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Via Cosmopolitan US.