Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Thursday that a concert by Kanye West will go ahead in the country in a Facebook video post showing the controversial rapper and a one-line message from Rama: “11 July in Tirana.”
The Prime Minister’s Office told BIRN that the concert will not be sponsored by Albanian institutions but declined to explain the Prime Minister’s promotion of West, who has had several concerts cancelled in Europe and Australia due to antisemitism concerns.
The Ministry of Culture explained that the concert will be self-financed from ticket sales but that a coordination of institutions will “facilitate” its progress.
“In every aspect, it is our obligation to welcome and facilitate the development of such events that bring numerous benefits to tourism and the economy,’ the ministry told BIRN.
It added that the concert “will have an extraordinary impact on the promotion of tourism and the local economy”.
West, also known as Ye, was recently banned from entering the UK over antisemitic comments and a song he released entitled “Heil Hitler”; his planned festival appearance in London was cancelled. Another planned performance on his European tour, in Chorzow in Poland next month, has also been cancelled.
Sidorela Vatnikaj, a human rights activist in Tirana, criticised the decision to go ahead with the concert in Albania.
“Organising his concert in Tirana is a very problematic event because … it legitimises an individual who has often used his popularity to justify and glorify Nazism,” Vatnikaj told BIRN.
Isa Myzyraj, head of the Association of Journalists of Albania, said that “it is incomprehensible why the Prime Minister decides to provoke [people] by promoting Kanye West.
“He [Rama] is a country leader who in January gave a speech in the Knesset [Israeli parliament] and appears as a supporter of Israel and on the other hand, a few months later, promotes Kanye West who, for reasons we all know, has promoted not only antisemitism, but also the most savage leader humanity has ever seen [Hitler],” Myzyraj told BIRN.
West has blamed his bipolar disorder for his antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements and actions. He took out an advert in the Wall Street Journal to apologise and declare that “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite”.
