It seems Kanye West will not be performing at the Grammy Awards, now that the artist has been barred from taking the stage at the highly anticipated ceremony due to his “concerning online behavior.”
A representative for the rapper claimed that Kanye’s team received a phone call that stated he had been removed from the lineup, and while it was reported that it was “unfortunate,” his team says they are not “surprised by the decision” and have since confirmed he will not be performing.
The artist is currently nominated for five Grammys, including Album of the Year for ‘Donda,’ Best Rap Song for ‘Jail,’ Best Rap Album and Best Melodic Rap Performance.
The news comes after the 44-year-old singer was suspended from Instagram for a day after calling Trevor Noah, the host for this year’s ceremony, a racist name, as it is a violation of the platform’s policies on hate speech, bullying, and harassment.
Producers for the show seemed to be concerned about a possible interaction between the Trevor and Kanye, after the host shared his thoughts on the artist’s controversial divorce with Kim Kardashian.
“I’ll be honest with you — what I see from the situation is a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything,” Trevor said.
However a source close to the Recording Academy says Trevor “never asked the Grammys to ban Kanye from performing,” as he was “not offended by Kanye’s Instagram post and Trevor responded on Instagram.”