Kanye scraps US tour after rant about Jay Z, Beyonce
RAP superstar Kanye West has pulled the plug on his North American tour, organizers said Monday, two days after a rambling onstage tirade against fellow artists Jay Z and Beyonce.
The "Saint Pablo Tour" was set to run through Dec 31 but all 21 remaining shows are cancelled and ticket-holders will be refunded at the point of purchase, a spokeswoman for promoter Live Nation told AFP.
West has not made any personal statement on the cancellation and his representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Celebrity gossip website TMZ quoted an unnamed source saying the rapper was pulling out because he was exhausted.
"He's been working around the clock on fashion design, both his own line and the Adidas line," the source was quoted as saying.
Since August, West has performed around 40 dates in Canada and the US, rapping above the stage on an innovative "floating" platform.
He halted a gig in New York in the middle of his set when he was informed that his wife, reality TV queen Kim Kardashian, had been robbed at gunpoint in a hotel in Paris.
West has not spoken publicly about the incident but TMZ's source said time spent away from family had added to the rapper's stress.
He cancelled several dates the following week but made a comeback in his hometown, Chicago, and performed without incident until a show in Oakland on Oct 22 where he described the Grammys as "rigged."
The latest cancellation followed a Saturday night show in Sacramento, where West showed up an hour late and performed three songs before berating other artists and defeated White House hopeful Hillary Clinton, and cutting the performance short.
'Crazy talk'
West said he was "hurt" because Beyonce supposedly said she would not perform at a certain show – likely the Grammys – unless she wins video of the year over him.
"I've been sent here to give y'all my truth, even at the risk of my own life, even at the risk of my own success, my own career," West said.
He implored Beyonce's husband, the rapper Jay Z, to "call me, bro, you still ain't called me," adding that he was hurt that Jay Z had failed to visit his family after the robbery.
"Jay Z, I know you got killers. Please don't send them at my head. Just call me. Talk to me like a man," he added, appearing to suggest that his friend employed hitmen.
He also criticised Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg for failing to give him US$53 million (RM234 million) to get out of debt.
The rapper told an audience on Thursday that he did not vote but would have chosen Republican Donald Trump, sparking angry fans to boo the star and throw items on stage.
West – who has talked about plans to run for president in 2020 – earned US$17.5 million this year, according to Forbes magazine, which placed him 11th in the list of hip hop's highest-paid superstars.
The magazine predicted West would lose around US$10 million from the cancellation.
There was some support for the star on Twitter as well as an angry backlash, with fans accusing him of "crazy talk" and having "lost the plot."
"If Kanye isn't smoking weed that's honestly the problem ... he needs to hit a joint & figure his life out," said US rapper and model Lil Debbie.
"Kanye bout to accept a position in Trump's cabinet & deport anybody that don't have a ticket stub to his last three concerts," added comedian Roy Wood Jr, a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. — AFP