Kanye Halts Sydney Show Until Seated Fans Prove They’re Disabled
The Yeezus tour is making its way through Australia right now and Kanye is catching flak for some comments he made regarding handicapped people during his show last night. According to The Daily Mail, he demanded that everyone stand up and dance “unless y’all are sitting down because y’all handicapped” at a Melbourne concert on Wednesday. He continued the shtick at a show in Sydney on Friday, when he allegedly stopped singing during “Good Life” to make everyone stand up. He eventually focused on two seated fans and made security check if they were in wheelchairs. He allegedly told the crowd, “I can’t do this show until everybody stand up. … Unless you got a handicap pass and you get special parking and shit. Imma see you if you ain’t standing up, believe me, I’m very good at that.” After several minutes (during which time the rapper complained that it was the longest he ever had to wait to do a song) it was confirmed that one fan in question was in a wheelchair; Ye apparently said “it’s fine” and continued with the song. Another member of the audience waved a prosthetic limb in the air to explain why he was sitting.
Just remembered Kanye telling 2 kids in a wheelchair to stand up for an uncomfortably long amount of time. That sucked
— Frankie (@stevenl1987) September 13, 2014
"WE JUST WAITING ON THEM TWO PEOPLE TO STAND UP,
Oh…. they ARE in a wheelchair?? PLAY THE SONG"
Lol #YEEZUS
— Mitch Baker (@Bitch_Maker) September 13, 2014
A concertgoer told TMZ that Kanye meant nothing by it and that the whole thing “is just being blown out of proportion.” Earlier this year, Kanye gifted his microphone to a fan in a wheelchair at a concert in Austin.
UPDATE: Watch video of the incident below.
[Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty.]