I went to a Kanye West show last night. I wasn't alone.

On cancellation, Ye, and the Youth.

The last time Kanye West got “canceled” was in October of 2022 when he was wearing a WHITE LIVES MATTER T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week and tweeting, “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” I remember the discourse circulating around social media and in my groupchats that night. Most everyone was convinced that this time, Kanye West was truly done for. He was boldly wielding antisemitism, hobnobbing with white supremacists in front of our eyes, and smearing hate speech all over social media.

But, I disagreed. “If Kanye were to have a concert tonight, here in LA, it’d sell out,” I rebutted to my friends. “If he were to drop a new adidas sneaker or a hoodie, it’d be gone in minutes.”

I wasn’t vindicating Kanye. I was reminding everyone that we somehow get it wrong every time. Although, in some ways, he did get canceled (adidas and Gap dropped their endorsements, Twitter and Instagram (temporarily) banned Kanye, and CAA stopped representing him), Kanye’s currently got a #1 Billboard hit and is selling out arenas on his Vultures tour. I don’t know the metrics on this, but anecdotally, it seems like he is more popular with young people than ever. How have we not learned?

Kanye West has been getting “canceled” ever since he