Kanye Postpones Marseille Concert Amid French Ban Effort

Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Kanye West postponed his June 11 concert at Marseille's Vélodrome stadium after French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez studied "all possibilities" to block the event.
- The Marseille move follows the UK government banning West from entering the country one week earlier, effectively ending his July headlining slot at London's Wireless Festival.
- Marseille mayor Benoît Payan had publicly opposed the show in late March, declaring West "not welcome" and refusing to let the city serve as "a showcase for those who promote hatred and unashamed Nazism."
- West's other European dates — June 6 and 8 at Arnhem's GelreDome in the Netherlands and a late-July Madrid show — remain scheduled for now.
- The backlash traces to antisemitic comments that peaked in 2025, including $20 swastika shirts and self-declared Nazi posts on X; the ADL dismissed his January Wall Street Journal apology as insufficient to undo "his long history of antisemitism."
- West's two early-April SoFi Stadium shows in Los Angeles drew 60,000-80,000 attendees per night and reportedly grossed $33M, per industry sources.
Why it matters: France's near-ban landed one week after the UK barred West entirely, giving him back-to-back European setbacks that test whether his remaining Netherlands and Spain dates will survive. Promoters in the U.S. now sit on a performer who grossed $33M from two LA shows while governments abroad move to block him — a split-screen that complicates every booking decision on his tour.


