Kanye West has claimed to have broken a record with his recent Istanbul stadium gig, which came amidst ongoing controversy that has seen several other concerts axed.
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According to state-run Anadolu Agency, the rapper, who now goes by Ye, reportedly drew a crowd of 118,000 to Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium on Saturday (May 30), which he claimed was the largest stadium performance in history.
“I just want to tell y’all, we just broke the record, 118,000, largest stadium performance of all time,” West told the audience, according to Türkiye Today (via Billboard).
It’s not currently clear whether he did set a new record, given free solo concerts have drawn much larger crowds, including Lady Gaga’s performance in Rio de Janeiro last year, which reportedly had an audience of 2.5 million.
The show kicked off at began at 9pm local time, with organisers opening gates from 3pm to manage the influx of fans. A press release claimed that ‘Ye Live in Turkey’ surpassed the previously reported benchmark of 112,000 of 118,000 attendees, thus “establishing a new global standard for solo live performance attendance”.
Ye was set to perform further solo shows in Switzerland, Poland, France, and London on the European tour, but all have been cancelled, with the trek marred by continued backlash in the wake of anti-Semitic comments made by the ‘Bully’ artist in recent years.
Initially, his booking to headline all three nights of London’s Wireless Festival sparked an enormous backlash given his previous anti-Semitic comments and proclamations that he saw “good things about Hitler”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer was among those to criticise the slot, several sponsors cut their ties with the festival, and the UK Home Office ultimately blocked Ye from being allowed into the country, while Wireless eventually announced that they had cancelled their entire 2026 event.
The rapper shared a fresh apology for some of his previous remarks shortly before Wireless was axed, and later addressed the criticism in an update to his Wall Street Journal “to those I’ve hurt” letter, which he originally shared in January.
However, a handful of gigs on the tour will go ahead, including one in Albania and two recently confirmed gigs in the Netherlands.
West’s history of making antisemitic remarks dates back to 2022, when he made a series of offensive comments on social media. Those comments saw his accounts on both Instagram and Twitter suspended, and the musician was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, along with fashion brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas.
At first, West gave several interviews, refusing to apologise for making the comments while suggesting that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. However, in 2023, West delivered an apology to the Jewish community, going on to blame alcohol for his behaviour the following year.
In the wake of that initial apology, numerous lawsuits were filed against the rapper with claims of extensive antisemitic behaviour. One former employee alleged that the rapper said Jewish people were “working together to hold him back”.
Another former employee claimed he used antisemitic language in the workplace and praised Hitler – something for which he allegedly paid a settlement for. In 2024, a separate ex-employee accused him of being openly antisemitic in front of his staff.
West also shared a number of highly controversial posts in early 2025, when he took back an apology he previously made to the Jewish community for antisemitic remarks, and then declared himself “a Nazi”. The rapper then claimed on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”, followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.
The Istanbul date marked the opening night of West’s first European tour in 11 years — and it came after a summer of closures across the continent. The live dates continue with a stop in Arnhem, Netherlands on June 6 and 8.
