Kanye West barred from Grammys over ‘concerning online behavior’

Kanye West has been barred from performing at the Grammy awards next month due to “concerning online behavior”, a representative for the rapper and designer said.

Related: Kanye West suspended from Instagram after slur against Trevor Noah

The decision, confirmed to Variety, came a day after West, now legally known as Ye, was suspended from Instagram for 24 hours. The platform said content on the 44-year-old’s account was in violation of its policies on “hate speech and bullying and harassment”.

Trevor Noah, the comedian and Daily Show host, criticised posts by West about his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. West responded by using a racial slur. The post was then deleted.

West has won 22 Grammys from 75 nominations and is up for five awards this year. But he was not among the first list of performers announced this week. A representative for the singer told the Blast “Kanye’s team isn’t surprised by the decision” to drop him.

Kardashian filed for divorce in January 2021 and was declared legally single this month.

West has posted numerous messages taunting Kardashian and the comedian Pete Davidson, who is now dating the mother of West’s four children.

West has also posted screenshots of messages in which Kardashian says he is “creating a dangerous and scary environment” and says: “Someone will hurt Pete and this will all be your fault.”

West has apologised but also continued to post.

Last week, West posted that he was “really concerned” Davidson would get Kardashian “hooked on drugs”.

“Im [sic] really concerned that [he] will get my kids mom hooked on drugs,” West wrote in an Instagram post. “He’s in rehab every 2 months.”

Davidson has acknowledged his use of marijuana. He has also said West should seek help.

“Let me help you man. I struggle with mental stuff too,” Davidson reportedly wrote in text messages to West.

Noah, who will host the Grammys, shared a nearly 10-minute video detailing his wish for society at large to change how it treats West, Kardashian and Davidson, saying the situation had become “more and more belligerent”.

The decision to drop West from the Grammys lineup was not unexpected. But the veteran rapper the Game, who collaborated with West on a recent single with a Davidson-trolling video, Eazy, said: “Time and time again they show us that they only want to STEAL the culture, not allow you to ever be their equals.

“In a more than obvious move for reasons of minuscule actions … the Grammys have at the last minute decided to pull [West] from performing on the show as if we didn’t know it was coming.”