Kanye West made a surprise appearance in Rome as he joined fellow US rapper Travis Scott on stage.
The rapper, who has legally changed his name to Ye, was introduced to the stage by Scott at his Utopia concert at the historic Circus Maximus on Monday night.
It was West’s first public performance since he caused controversy with a series of antisemitic online posts.
His account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was suspended for almost eight months for violating the platform’s policy against inciting violence, and was reinstated last week.
“It’s been a long journey before we could get here,” Scott was heard to say on Monday, in footage shared on social media.
“I can only say, there has been only one human being on this m************ planet that has ever walked side by side with me through anything.
“There is no Utopia without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West. There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye.”
West then took to the stage and the pair performed Praise God and Can’t Tell Me Nothing together, in front of the 60,000-strong crowd.
West has been absent from the public eye since October over his antisemitic posts and remarks.
He faced a backlash over his comments, which resulted in him being dropped by Adidas, talent agency CAA and the Balenciaga fashion house.
West’s Twitter account was also locked for 24 hours in March 2022, following a string of online attacks he made against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s then-boyfriend, SNL comedian Pete Davidson.
The rapper has not posted anything new to Twitter since the suspension has been lifted, with the account showing his last posts from December 2.
The performance in Rome followed a previously planned performance by Scott at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
A message from Live Nation: pic.twitter.com/s05YWOVkpG
— Live Nation Middle East (@LiveNationME) July 26, 2023
According to Live Nation Middle East, the show was cancelled due to the “complex production issues” of setting up a show in the desert.
Last week Scott secured his first number one album with Utopia – his fourth studio offering – as it claimed the biggest streaming week for a full-length album this year so far.
It features global superstars including Beyonce, the Weeknd, Bad Bunny and SZA.
It comes after a Texas grand jury decided not to indict the US rapper in a criminal investigation into a massive crowd surge that killed 10 people at his 2021 Astroworld music festival in Houston.