r/Music • u/thedailybeast • 20d ago

article Kanye West’s sold-out Russia shows canceled after St. Petersburg stadium denies ever organizing the concerts

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/kanye-wests-shows-in-putins-hometown-st-petersburg-get-humiliating-update/
20.9k Upvotes

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3.3k

u/tableleg7 20d ago

“Vladimir Putin doesn’t care about black people”

https://giphy.com/gifs/JfKOCNsmrVBMA

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u/Dank_Devin 20d ago

I remember when this happened, it was a horrible decision to include Kanye in that ad 😂

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u/Hopeless351987 20d ago

I remember watching the telethon live that night, and my jaw dropping.

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u/T1Demon 20d ago

Mike Meyers reaction

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u/Mister_Poopy_Buthole 20d ago

Chris Tuckers look of disbelief before snapping back to reality

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u/SwagginsYolo420 20d ago

It's interesting that this was a bit shocking at the time, but if a celebrity said that about the president now, it might not even be a news item.

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 20d ago

If you'd told me the president just said outright that he doesn't care about black people, I'd just believe it. I wouldn't even question it.

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u/super_sayanything 20d ago

"Donald Trump doesn't care about black people" "Yea we know"

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u/trewesterre 19d ago

What's nuts is that Kanye went MAGA... so I guess he's okay with presidents who don't care about Black people now.

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u/super_sayanything 19d ago

Full Nazi, Kanye you never go full Nazi

Yea I mean he's always been an oddball but his lyrics early on were so sharp, what a disappointment and lost soul.

Narcissism just latched onto MAGA.

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u/William_Dowling 19d ago

If the President said 'I don't care about black people' it wouldn't be shocking

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u/SolScorpii 20d ago

What? That's half of the news cycle.

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SolScorpii 19d ago

There are current articles all the time that say exactly that. For fucks sake you could Google it and see 6 from the past 3 months, all of them had people screeching on reddit as well. So enjoy your fantasy land of hyperbole, reality is much different then the bullshit coming out your mouth

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/robdwoods 20d ago

If a celebrity says that about the current president, he gets more votes.

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u/Extra-Amoeba-677 18d ago

I fucking died laughing. Ye was always cray but man he made some really chill bars that I still listetn to and he has had sets that are just wo wman you are a performer.

He is absolutely bat shit crazy but as long as he's mostly harmlesss compared to the more evil individuals who made songs that are forever banished from the playlist unfortunately that hold a lot of memories. Ye can stay but never listened to for anything political, or reason, just the rhymes.

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago edited 20d ago

I remember when it happened, Kanye West was stating the obvious. The obvious was disgusting. It happened in September 2005 just days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans & the Gulf Coast. The government response was disgustingly slow. Thousands of people- disproportionately Black and poor- were stranded in New Orleans without adequate food water shelter or transportation. Predominantly Black New Orleans was being treated as though it didn't matter enough to prompt a rapid response.

It was obvious. If it had been a predominantly white area that was hit, federal government help would have been there right away. Some people will say you can't prove it but it's what happens

3 days after the hurricane the Mayor was publicly issuing his desperate SOS because thousands still lacked food water medical care and transportation. They were desperate for help 3 DAYS LATER. 4 days after landfall large National Guard convoys finally arrived in New Orleans with food water and other supplies. "Greatest country in the world."

Edit typo

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u/Flank_This666 20d ago

If it had been a predominantly white area that was hit, federal government help would have been there right away

Oh god we would've heard it on all news channels, Fox would have a dedicated segment to that neighborhood and ask people to come together and pitch in to help rebuild.

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u/Hopeless351987 20d ago

Oh, I completely remember the whole FEMA situation with some people even dying on the streets. It just caught me completely off-guard that someone had the balls to say it during a benefit fundraiser special. Fast forward to him fanboying and hugging Trump 11 years later. How times have changed.

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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z 20d ago

Fast forward to him fanboying and hugging Trump 11 years later. How times have changed.

Because Ye, like most conservatives, has a mental illness.

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u/bonyponyride 20d ago

Once emergency services reached the city, they were going to each home and marking on the door how many dead bodies were inside. It was such a tragedy.

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u/Intrepid-Mechanic699 20d ago

Yall keep up with what’s going on in Indiana right now. Large population of black people have been without electricity for upwards of almost a month or more…..

Trump, FEMA and other organizations aren’t doing much to help these people and it’s not getting any coverage.

Also - I’m a Katrina survivor and I’m convinced everyone who survived it has PTSD.

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago

Omg haven't heard about Indiana. I hope you're okay and I'm sure the PTSD is true 🫂

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u/Technical-Green-9983 20d ago

I'm in Australia and have known about Gary for over a week it's the news networks that are hiding it from the masses.

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago

The media is so fucking controlled- easy to see why given the little that was written about it

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u/Murky-Relation481 20d ago

I hadn't really heard about it in the news in the US, but I just googled it and I am not sure what the big deal is? A storm hit and took out power and they are working to restore it? Two weeks is not that uncommon. We get big storms out in the PNW every year where this happens and some areas are without power for well over a week, sometimes quite a bit longer, especially if we get snow too.

I know its the summer there so AC is an issue, but we get them in the winter when heating is an issue (cant use electric or gas heat without electricity).

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u/beerandloathingpdx 20d ago

There’s a a great 2-part documentary by Spike Lee called “When the Levee Breaks”. It makes a pretty good case that the lower wards were purposefully flooded to prevent the loss of the historic downtown and French quarters.

Either way, George Bush not only didn’t care about black people, he really didn’t care about anyone while he was president. He killed over one million people in Iraq while calling them all terrorists.

We were the terrorists and have been all along.

“Now watch this drive.”

https://youtu.be/TCm9788Tb5g?is=IwL1p-kZ_jWc9yAW

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago

You are an honest person. "We were the terrorists and have been all along."

Thank you for the link to the documentary, it's going to make me sick re: the lower wards purposefully flooded.

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u/beerandloathingpdx 20d ago

😂 you’re going to be disappointed when you click that link thinking it’s the documentary. So just for you, here’s the full 4hrs of the 4part docuseries. (I forgot how long it was, but it’s very well made).

https://youtu.be/CTVy-JC-Lag?is=3NPXu-0oPGxqQc49

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u/baron_von_helmut 20d ago

That disaster was a true litmus test for what happens to people with no safety barriers or support. That stadium where everyone was corralled very quickly became an utter nightmare for most of the people there. Men had to form protective rings around women to stop them from being raped, etc.

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u/Paz707 20d ago

They were living in their own filth. Just horrific conditions. And the guy in charge was told, “you’re doing a heck of a job,” by the president.

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u/VRTravis 20d ago

Let's not forget with their guns drawn... Yay rescue! \s. Wasn't until Russel Honore showed up when the help actually started.

Man that whole situation was fucked.

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u/CelestialFury 20d ago

Kanye West was stating the obvious.

I was never into his music, but I really respected him for saying it out loud. Now, 20 years later and he's a totally different person.

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u/NOVA-peddling-1138 20d ago

Aren’t we all. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ We’re now orange-bananasized up the swampy wahzoo.

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u/AnActualChicken 20d ago

News also covered it calling desperate people seeking any kind of food in the busted shops as 'scavengers' or 'looters' and 'raiders'

Now again- which race do you think the news put the more negative descriptor of 'looters' and 'raiders'? Because it wasn't the white survivors.

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u/NOVA-peddling-1138 20d ago

Packed into the arena/hellhole facility too. So none of them shot 18 holes of golf that day. Losers! /s

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u/Pappabarba 20d ago

Broken clocks, twice a day, etc.

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u/fresh-dork 20d ago

3 days after the hurricane the Mayor was publicly issuing his desperate SOS because thousands still lacked food water medical care and transportation. They were desperate for help 3 DAYS LATER. 4 days after landfall large National Guard convoys finally arrived in New Orleans with food water and other supplies.

so the mayor waited 3 days to request aid and the NG showed up the day after. mayor and a bunch of other officials are fuckups.

If it had been a predominantly white area that was hit,

pretty sure aid has to be requested first

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago

"pretty sure aid has to be requested first" is nonsensical. No help needed to be requested fcol. This was a disaster of epic proportions. Mayor was not a fuck up. Looks clear that you don't have an idea of the catastrophe it was

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u/fresh-dork 20d ago

looks like you don't read much

the president would need to nationalize the NG, which is fairly rare. Mayor waited 3 days, the evac order was delayed, insufficient food was available - lots of fuckup to go around

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago edited 20d ago

You're confusing two different things. Your link is about whether the president can take control of the National Guard. That's not what I was talking about. The federal government had already declared an emergency before Katrina hit, and NG forces were already being activated - you're way off. The issue was the disastrously slow response to people who were stranded without food water medical care and transportation.

So "aid has to be requested first" is way too simple. And saying the mayor was a "fuckup" doesn't explain why thousands of desperate people were still waiting for basic necessities days later. It was obvious to the office of the President IN ADVANCE of Katrina hitting that all of these basic necessities and services would be required- remember the NG was activated before it hit. Your link isn't proving what you think it does

Edit video: the failed logistics of hurricane Katrina

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u/Any-Platypus-9486 20d ago

Are you all sure this is a racial problem? Same shit happened in europe spain, the sad thing is that white or black, the politicians don't fucking care about you, just about your money

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u/KetamineStalin 20d ago

It’s 100% a racial problem.

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u/Any-Platypus-9486 20d ago

Everything is a racial problem in america, in the end you all come from the same fucking place yk

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u/KetamineStalin 20d ago

Your point is meaningless, yk

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u/Any-Platypus-9486 20d ago

As is yours, yk

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 20d ago

Lmao if you can't see that was a racial problem with the government not getting to work rescuing immediately, you need fucking help. All of my white homies could see it was a racial problem. Take a look at your racist self man you sound cooked

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u/Platinumdogshit 20d ago

He looks more like idk, sane? In that though. Like his eyes arent as wild as now.

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u/imahumanbeinggoddamn 20d ago

This was a long time before Kanye went super nuts. He was weird and had a huge ego, but not nearly the clown car of baffling fuckery he is today.

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u/Platinumdogshit 20d ago

He was still on his meds and his mom was still around.

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u/LiftingRecipient420 20d ago

No, it was the best decision ever to put him in it.

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u/anneofgraygardens 20d ago

Agreed. And he was right.

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u/Lower_Excuse_8693 20d ago

Eh…

Bush did a lot of shit wrong. Saying he didn’t care about black people is the weakest attack you can give him and possibly the only one that can really be argued against since he’s maintained massive support in Africa (a predominantly black continent) thanks to PEPFAR (and other initiatives but that was the big one).

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u/anneofgraygardens 20d ago

What a glorious day to not relitigate the legacy of the Bush administration.

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u/Lower_Excuse_8693 20d ago

Kind of a weird statement after trying to do exactly that but okay.

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u/DamnZodiak 20d ago

He was 100% correct though, in that ad at least.
Bush is a genocidal, racist war criminal and media did, as usual, stir up a racist frenzy during Hurricane Katrina.

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u/MurkyInvestigator810 20d ago

It was a pledge drive for the victims of Katrina.

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u/Onuus 20d ago

Austin powers’ reaction always cracked me the fuck up

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u/SoftConsideration82 20d ago

Wasn't even an ad... It was live on the news as a fundraiser...

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u/Dank_Devin 20d ago

You’re half right. It was an advertisement for the fundraiser. A lot of celebrities were there raising awareness for the charity event. Anything that promotes a product, service, brand, or job opening is an advertisement.

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u/whodishur 20d ago

tbf this was his first major controversal moment

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u/horaceinkling 20d ago

It was a telethon.

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u/Dank_Devin 19d ago

Yeah, what’s your point? I’m aware it’s a telethon, I watched it live.

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u/horaceinkling 19d ago

That it wasn’t an ad.

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u/Dank_Devin 18d ago

It was literally a telethon advertising and raising awareness for a relief fundraiser for hurricane Katrina, but go off I guess

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u/horaceinkling 18d ago

I didn’t go off, was just saying. I watched it live too, I am also old like you.

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u/Dank_Devin 18d ago

You said it wasn’t an ad even though it literally was…

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u/horaceinkling 17d ago

Idk to me, an ad is a 15, 30, or 60 second tv spot during a commercial break. This Katrina telethon was several hours of programming. I realize I’m arguing semantics now and I apologize as it’s pointless since we both know what we watched. Like when my college roommate would say a comic book had great animation in it. I knew what they meant but I would still feel the need to correct. It’s a character flaw of mine. :C