A concert by US rapper Kanye West, who now uses the name Ye, that had been scheduled for 19 June 2026 at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium in Chorzów was canceled by the venue on Friday.
Stadium director Adam Strzyzewski said in a press release on the venue’s website that the event would not take place for formal and legal reasons. The cancellation follows a series of international fallout over West’s recent statements and actions.
The decision came after the UK government refused West entry, forcing him to cancel shows there, and after local officials in Marseille succeeded in postponing a planned concert. Holocaust survivors and advocacy groups have urged other European countries to take similar steps. West has also been barred from performing in Australia, although he has played shows this year in the United States and in Mexico City. West has not publicly commented on the Polish cancellation.
Why the backlash?
Once one of the world’s most successful rappers, the 48-year-old has faced widespread condemnation for increasingly antisemitic remarks and expressions of admiration for Adolf Hitler. He has made statements praising Nazis, sold shirts featuring a swastika, and released a track last year titled “Heil Hitler,” which major streaming platforms later removed.
In January, West took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in which he rejected and apologized for some past behavior, writing that he was not a Nazi or an antisemite and that he loved Jewish people. He has said some of his actions were linked to a “manic episode” associated with a bipolar disorder diagnosis.
Poland’s cultural authorities object
Before the stadium’s announcement, Poland’s Culture Ministry said it would seek to prevent West from performing in the country. Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said West’s widely discussed actions, including what she described as promotion of Nazism, contradict Poland’s values and that public venues should not be made available to promoters of criminal ideologies. She noted the historical context of Nazi crimes in Poland, where more than one million people, mostly Jews, were killed at Auschwitz and millions more suffered under the occupation. Poland lost the vast majority of its prewar Jewish population, and by the end of World War II more than six million Jews had been killed across Europe.
The Silesian Stadium cancellation is the latest in a series of international responses to West’s recent conduct. Organizers and officials in affected countries have cited legal, moral and public-safety considerations in deciding not to host his performances.