[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284728404.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tEdi Rama, an artist who also happens to serve as Albania\u2019s Prime Minster, has defended plans to stage a Kanye West concert in a recently built stadium outside Tirana, even as some Jewish groups continued to accuse the rapper of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\n\tWest, who previously denied the Holocaust and posted about his intentions to go \u201cdeath con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,\u201d is set to perform on Saturday in a custom-built venue erected at a cost of millions of euros. The Albanian media previously quoted one prominent Jewish group as calling the concert an \u201camplification\u201d of the rapper\u2019s views and a \u201cmoral contradiction.\u201d (In January, West did take out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal<\/em> to publish an open letter apologizing for his past antisemitic remarks, writing, \u201cI am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.\u201d)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Balkan Insight <\/em>reported that Gazment Bardhi, an Albanian MP, had also called on Rama to cancel West\u2019s concert.<\/p>\n \n\tRama hit back at his detractors on Facebook this week, describing their claims as \u201cscorpion-tailed lies to poison Albania.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c4 MILLION EURO in the last minute, not to embarrass Albania, in the eyes of nearly 25 thousand foreigners from 80 countries whose Germans have bought tickets for Kanye West on time \u2013 while many others are scared of fear of the concert being canceled,\u201d Rama wrote in another Facebook post.<\/p>\n \n\tIt is the latest controversy to embroil Rama, who is facing a mass cry for his resignation that is known as the Flamingo Revolution. Central to that revolt is Rama\u2019s plan to allow a group of investors to build a luxury resort along the Balkan coast. One of those investors is Jared Kushner, Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law. Rama has claimed that the denouncements of him surrounding the resort are \u201cideological bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEven before the onset of the Flaming Revolution, Rama had also faced scrutiny after he fired a deputy facing a corruption investigation earlier this year.<\/p>\n \n\tRama, who has been in power in Albania since 2013, is also well-known as an artist, with his work appearing in venues ranging from the Venice Biennale to the Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cRama is that rarest thing: not a politician with artistic leanings, but a real, bona fide artist in power,\u201d wrote the Guardian<\/em> in 2016. He is currently represented by two blue-chip galleries: Marian Goodman and Soci\u00e9t\u00e9, the latter of which took him on in 2025, the same year he began his fourth term.<\/p>\n \n\tJust last month, Rama brought his work to Art Basel\u2019s Parcours section, which situates large-scale artworks around the Swiss city. Rama\u2019s contribution was an untitled bronze sculpture based on drawings that he made while in the Kryeministria, or the Prime Minister\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/edi-rama-defends-kanye-west-concert-tirana-1234791728\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284728404.jpg?w=1024″] Edi Rama, an artist who also happens to serve as Albania\u2019s Prime Minster, has defended plans to stage a Kanye West concert in a recently built stadium outside Tirana, even as some Jewish groups continued to accuse the rapper of antisemitism. West, who previously denied the Holocaust and posted about his intentions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2037558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2037558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2037558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2037558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2037558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}