An Amsterdam magistrate dismissed a legal bid by a Jewish advocacy group that sought to cancel two scheduled concerts of rapper Kanye West, deciding the upcoming events do not pose a danger to public safety, The Associated Press reported. The ruling was handed down on Wednesday.
The 48-year-old musician has a history of antisemitic statements, triggering significant public pressure on Dutch officials to call off his June 6 and June 8 concert dates.
The Central Jewish Council initiated the urgent legal action on Tuesday, maintaining that the rapper should be forbidden from entering the nation due to his past statements praising Adolf Hitler and his commercialization of apparel featuring Nazi swastikas.
However, the Amsterdam District Court concluded that there was insufficient legal justification to prohibit the rapper's appearances.
“There are no indications that West’s presence in the coming days will lead to concrete public order dangers," the court clarified in an official press release, according to AP.
Leadership within the Central Jewish Council voiced sharp frustration following the judicial decision.
“The feeling we are getting is that it is okay if you are antisemitic," Chanan Hertzberger, the association's chairperson, stated to AP.
West, who now goes by the moniker Ye, has faced repeated backlash in recent years for a series of antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements.
In 2022, the rapper threatened to go "death con 3 on the Jews" in an apparent antisemitic rant on X, which was then called Twitter. West followed this up by claiming that he can't be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew."
Last year, he bought a Super Bowl ad to promote T-shirts with swastikas on them, then released a song titled “Heil Hitler," which a group of far-right antisemitic influencers, including Nick Fuentes, recently played at a Miami nightclub in a viral incident.
He subsequently issued an apology, attributing his actions to episodes of manic behavior linked to his bipolar disorder.
While the Netherlands refused to cancel his concerts, West was recently banned from performing in the United Kingdom, Poland and Italy due to his past antisemitic comments.