Music artist Kanye West performs during a private concert at the Nokia Theatre in New York City August 29, 2006. Photo: REUTERS/Eric Thayer/File Photo

Ye’s concert scheduled for this Friday in Algarve, Portugal, is set to take place as planned even after Israel’s Embassy in Portugal called for its cancellation and accused the musician, formerly known as Kanye West, of spreading hate speech.

The embassy urged citizens not to attend the show at Algarve Stadium and said the scheduled performance, part of Ye’s European tour, would be “a disgrace for Portugal and for the Portuguese.” In a Portuguese-language video posted on social media on Thursday, Israel’s Ambassador to Portugal Oren Rozenblat cited some of Ye’s past offensive and antisemitic comments, accused him of glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, promoting antisemitism and more.

“Someone who glorified Hitler, promoted antisemitism and claimed that slavery was a choice, a remark that deeply offended millions of descendants of slavery’s victims. This is not provocation, it is hate speech,” said Rozenblat. He then listed the other countries that have banned the artist from performing, and argued that “a democratic society should not give a platform to someone who glorifies Hitler, promotes Nazism and defends antisemitism.”

The ambassador also asked if Portugal’s citizens would attend the concert of an artist who supported hatred against other communities. “Would you buy a ticket for an artist who promoted hatred against Black people, against Muslims, against Christians or against LGBT people?” he asked. “If the answer is no, why should it be any different when the target is Jews?”

Last year, Ye sold shirts with swastikas, released a song titled “Heil Hitler,” and published several antisemitic posts on social media in which he targeted Jews and expressed admiration for Nazism. He declared, “I’m a Nazi” and said he “liked Hitler.” In January, he apologized for his behavior and comments last year.

In 2022, Ye threatened violence against Jews in a social media post, praised Hitler in an interview with far-right talk show host Alex Jones and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and stereotypes during an interview with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Ye has already had several concerts of his European tour cancelled this year. In scheduled gig this month in Italy was banned by the local authorities because of public order and security concerns. The artist was banned from performing in Australia last year and the United Kingdom banned him recently, a decision that forced the cancellation of London’s Wireless Festival that was set for this month. In Marseille, France, Ye postponed a concert until further notice after being told by the city’s mayor that he was “not welcome” to perform there because of his “unapologetic Nazism.” Poland cancelled Ye’s show that was scheduled for June, after the country’s minister of culture criticized his antisemitic statement, and his recent concert in Switzerland was also cancelled.

Torcato Jorge, the CEO and co-founder of Raya Culture, which is organizing the concert in Portugal on Friday, previously told Euronews Culture the performance is “a music event that’s going to happen.”

“It would become an issue if the services identified a national threat to public order, which is not the case,” Jorge said. “There has to be a state internal security report saying that this citizen cannot enter the country … Each country is free to decide whether or not to allow a citizen to enter, but in the European Union there has been no country that has vetoed their entry into national territory.”