Photo: Splash
Kanye West has issued a statement about the censorship of his performance of 'All Day' at the Billboard Awards. Read it in full below.
West closed the 2015 Billboard Music Awards this weekend (17 May) with a performance of 'All Day' and 'Black Skinhead', that was so heavily censored it bordered on the nonsensical. The pyrotechnics during the performance also made it near impossible to see West, nor his collaborators Allan Kingdom and Theophilus London.
"Kanye West was grossly over-censored at the Billboard Music Awards," said his team in a statement. "Non-profane lyrics such as 'with my leather black jeans on' were muted for over 30 second intervals. As a result, his voice and performance were seriously misrepresented. It is ridiculous that in 2015, unwarranted censorship is something that artists still have to fight against."
The statement also contains an apology of sorts to the frustrated TV audience. "Although West was clearly set up to face elements beyond his control during the live broadcast, he would like to apologize to the television audience who were unable to enjoy the performance the way he envisioned."
Watch Kanye West perform 'All Day' at the Billboard Awards below
'All Day' is taken from West's forthcoming album, the name of which he recently changed from So Help Me God to SWISH - though he hasn't ruled out the possibility of changing it for a third time.
Kanye West will headline Glastonbury this year, alongside Foo Fighters and The Who. For more Glastonbury news and more information, click here.
