Kanye West has responded to rumours about him being kicked out of the Grammys 2025.
The rapper – now known as Ye – was nominated for Best Rap Song (‘Carnival’ with Ty Dolla $ign and Rich The Kid feat. Playboi Carti) at this year’s event last Sunday (February 2). However, he lost out to Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘Not Like Us’.
West faced backlash after he appeared on the red carpet with his wife Bianca Censori, who showed up in a see-through dress.
Censori turned up in a fur coat, which she then dropped to show off an almost entirely see-through mini-dress, revealing her nude figure. This came after the couple made headlines when it was reported that police in Venice were investigating an “indecent” public incident on a boat in 2023.
Ye had also shared Polaroid pictures of Censori in her mini-dress on X/Twitter ahead of the Grammys, along with an image of the pair kissing.
Page Six reported that Ye and Censori were later escorted out of the Grammys as both had shown up uninvited. It was said that the nude stunt was done to replicate the album cover of ‘Vultures 1’, Ye’s ¥$ collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign.
But TMZ claimed that Ye had indeed been invited to the ceremony because of his nomination, and that the couple were not escorted from the event. According to a source, the rapper himself decided to leave the Grammys with Censori after walking the red carpet.
Now, West has claimed that US journalist and former CNN host Don Lemon “started the rumour” that he and Censori had been kicked out of the Grammys in a now-deleted post on Instagram.
“This the goofball that started the rumor that me and my wife got kicked out the Grammies [sic],” he captioned an image of Lemon smiling.
“3 decades of innovating music and they always K***S like this.”
Kanye claps at Don Lemon.
“This the goofball that started the rumor that me and my wife got kicked out the Grammies 3 decades of innovating music and they always K**NS like this” pic.twitter.com/qEtsZPrYLO
— VideoMixtape.com (@VideoMixtape_) February 3, 2025
Lemon subsequently responded in a video on Instagram. “First of all, Kanye… Ye, whatever your name is. I did not start a rumour about you being kicked out of the Grammys. I actually corrected it,” he explained.
“I saw someone on your team who asked me to correct it because it had been reported everywhere.”
He added: “Get your shit straight. You, of all people, calling me a c**n?… That ‘Make America Great Again’ hat must be too tight on your head.”
In a video update as he was leaving the Grammys, Lemon told his followers: “We saw a spokesperson for Kanye and that spokesperson said Kanye was indeed invited, they said that’s a fact, and that he was not kicked out. That is what they are saying on Kanye’s side.”
Lemon had interviewed West at the Grammys earlier. “Kanye, when is ‘Bully’ gonna come out?” he asked, referring to the rapper’s upcoming new album. “Ye,” the artist responded. “I changed my name to Ye. Soon, this year, though.”
In another clip, Lemon asked: “Kanye, the number one artist you want to put on right now?” He replied: “Give me a second. I’m focused.”
West then reportedly told a member of his team that he did not want to do any interviews at the Grammys.
In other news, Ye recently previewed snippets of new music from a DJ booth in Tokyo, which included a shoutout to the disgraced rap mogul Diddy on a remix of Future’s ‘Magic Don Juan’.