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Kanye West will not perform at the Grammy Awards over 'concerning online behavior,' report says

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Kanye West will not perform at the Grammy Awards. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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Kanye West is barred from performing at the upcoming Grammy Awards. 

A rep for West, 44, confirmed to People that he will not perform at the award ceremony on April 3 due to "concerning behavior online." West was scheduled to perform and was nominated for five awards, including Album of the Year. The Blast was the first outlet to report the news. 

Representatives for West and the Recording Academy did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. 

On Friday, The Blast reported that the decision to cut West from the ceremony involved his recent Instagram post about Trevor Noah, who's hosting the event. 

Trevor Noah speaks onstage during the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards at Los Angeles Convention Center .
Trevor Noah spoke about Kanye West's treatment of Kim Kardashian during their divorce in a recent segment.  Kevin Winter/Getty Images

West was suspended from Instagram for 24 hours on Wednesday after making posts about Trevor Noah and Pete Davidson. A Meta representative told Insider officials also deleted content from his account that violated the platform's bullying, hate speech, and harassment policies.

The Meta representative said the company takes additional steps against accounts that repeatedly break its rules by using extra restrictions against them and would do so for West if he continued to violate policies. 

West called Noah a racial slur in an Instagram caption after "The Daily Show" host weighed in on his actions towards Kim Kardashian amid their divorce. In a segment that aired on Tuesday, Noah touched on the subject, saying, "If Kim cannot escape this, Kim Kardashian, then what chance do normal women have?" 

He said that "over time, Kanye has become more and more belligerent in how he tries to get Kim back."

Noah added that West's posts affected him because he grew up in an abusive household as a child and other people told his mother that she was "overreacting." Noah's stepfather shot his mother in the head following their divorce, Noah said. His mother survived and spoke to People about the incident in 2017.

Noah later responded to West's Instagram post with a comment in which he expressed praise and concern. 

"You're an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this," Noah wrote, CBS News reported. 

West also spoke about Davidson and his current relationship with Kardashian in several Instagram posts. 

Pete Davidson performs onstage at the Colossal Stage during Colossal Clusterfest.
Pete Davidson is currently dating Kim Kardashian.  Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

In one recent post, West said he was "concerned" that Davidson would get Kardashian "hooked on drugs" because "he is in rehab every 2 months." Davidson has been candid about his mental health. 

West also posted a clip of his new music video "Eazy," which featured an animated version of him kidnapping, decapitating, and burying an animated version of Davidson. 

Some fans called the music video "disturbing" and criticized the content. West later responded to the backlash by saying, "art is not a proxy for any ill or harm." 

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Lauren Edmonds
Lauren Edmonds is an award-winning reporter on the Business News team. When news isn't breaking, she covers how AI and data centers impact communities across the US. She also writes about personal finance, paths to financial freedom, and contributes to Business Insider's Young Geniuses series. Lauren has previously covered lifestyle and entertainment, digital culture, and more. She has a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and resides in New York City.Do you have an interesting story to tell? You can reach Lauren at ledmonds@bjinnox.com or on Signal at ledmonds0.07.StoriesThe bipartisan backlash to Big Tech's AI data centers is getting harder for politicians to ignoreI spent 4 hours at an AI data center town meeting. Things got rowdy.Meet the MAGA darling mobilizing Americans against Big AIKevin O'Leary defends his Utah data center project: 'Think about the number of jobs'Why Hollywood is paying this 17-year-old up to $20,000 to boost film trailers with TikTok editsHere's all the free money Trump's talked about giving Americans during his second term — and where it all standsA 17-year-old earned $72,000 after investing his e-commerce profits into stocks. Here's why he bet on the tech industry.Lawmakers float a nationwide basic income experiment that would cover the cost of a 2-bedroom apartmentAmericans ditch suffocating healthcare costs and divisive politics to retire in Italy: 'It's the way they approach life'