Kanye West 'made more than £18m from cancelled gigs' this summer
A string of the rapper's gigs have been cancelled this summer, including a headline slot at Wireless Festival
Kanye West has reportedly made over £18 million this summer for gigs he didn't end up performing, while disappointed fans were left short.
Listen to this article
Just this week it was announced that two of the rapper's shows in St Petersburg, Russia would no longer take place.
It has been reported that Kanye, 49, will only agree to performances if he's paid half the fee in advance.
It meant the rapper reportedly pocketed a nice £7.3 million for doing nothing at all - while his Russian fans missed out on seeing the star perform.
Kanye's gigs in Russia would have made him the first Western performer to play there since the 2022 Ukraine invasion.
But the stadium, Gazprom Arena, said on Tuesday that no rental agreement had been signed with the concert promoters - meaning the gig was called off.
Read more: Kanye West banned from Italy concert over safety fears
Kanye was the subject of a huge controversy earlier this year after he had been booked to play at the Wireless festival in north London.
The decision by organisers to book the rapper came under intense scrutiny due to Kanye's anti-Semitic comments.
In the end the entire festival - which had been due to take place in early July over two days - was called off.
But West has still reportedly been paid £5.5 million, the Daily Mail reports.
The Gold Digger hitmaker also called off two gigs in France and Italy, and was paid £2.9 million for both according to the Daily Mail.
The spate of cancelled concerts means the star has earned £18.7 million this summer solely from gigs he didn't actually play.
A source told the outlet that his management were "killing" Kanye's career because "every cancellation means that you have another market where people won’t want to take him on again".
They continued: “It seems the people who organised the gigs in Russia didn’t have the ability to do so. Everyone got tempted by the money, and then it’s blown up in their faces.
“If you want to do a gig in Russia, you need to sit down with one of Putin’s assistants and offer assurances nothing is going to happen to cause the government embarrassment.”
Kanye West's representatives were approached for comment.