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Fans offered refund after Kanye rants on politics, cuts show short

Posted at 5:01 PM, Nov 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-20 19:01:47-05

By Donie O’Sullivan

NEW YORK (CNN) — Kanye West left thousands of his California fans disappointed on Saturday night after cutting his show short, performing only two songs and engaging in a long rant about politics, the media and Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Ticketmaster announced Sunday that it would be providing a full refund to those who bought tickets through their network to the Sacramento show. “We understand that last night’s show was cut short,” they wrote to ticket holders.

The Golden 1 Center, where the concert took place, has a 17,500 capacity, according to its website. Tickets to West’s other shows in California range in price from $26 to $135.

Talking politics

West came on stage 90 minutes late, according to concertgoers, and told his audience they couldn’t believe Hillary Clinton had lost “Cause you was lied to by Google. You was lied to by Mark Zuckerberg.”

West made another reference to Clinton’s defeat while taking aim at radio executives. If radio stations “keep following old models,” he said, they would be “Hillary Clintoned.”

West, who once posed for a selfie with Clinton and his wife, Clinton supporter Kim Kardashian West, told an audience earlier in the week that he didn’t vote in this year’s election but if he did he would have voted for Donald Trump.

Fellow celebrities

The artist also took aim at some of his fellow celebrities, encouraging Jay-Z to call him back and talk to him “like a man,” and also suggested that Beyonce won video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this year because she agreed to perform at the event.

Addressing the media, West told them to “get ready to write your passive aggressive” and “racist comments” before telling the audience the show was over. He dropped his microphone and walked off the stage.

Disappointed fans

Video shows stunned members of the audience asking if the show was really over, shortly after a chorus of boos erupted.

Yesenia Miranda, from Sacramento, told CNN, “He’s very ignorant. People in our city work hard for our money and for him just to do that was disrespectful. Not only did he perform two songs he was also an hour and a half late.”

Baylee Poole, a student at California State University, was also disappointed. “Kanye talked about how feelings mattered in his speech but when he left the stage, he left us in the Sacramento crowd confused and frustrated,” she told CNN.

Dellan dela Cruz, who said he paid $107 for his ticket, said he was happy to be getting a refund but said, “The damage has already been done when it comes to how some people feel about Kanye now after this performance.”