Why didn't Kanye West attend Trump’s second inauguration? Rapper reportedly reveals reason in unreleased Justin LaBoy podcast interview

In an unreleased Justin LaBoy podcast interview, Kanye West reportedly revealed why he did not make it to Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025. As per TMZ, Kanye played the clips of the podcast at a Grammys afterparty, where he spoke about turning down Trump’s invitation to attend the event.

As per the publication, West mentioned in his interview how Trump had laid down the condition that Ye had to apologize for his 2022 anti-semitic remarks, to which, the rapper did not agree. He said:

"It's this censorship stigma. I was gonna go to the inauguration. Until I was told I had to write another apology saying yeah, that I wasn’t… what’s the word? “Antisemitic.”

After defeating Kamala Harris, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States of America. The inauguration ceremony was held inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The event saw the presence of several notable figures, including Conor McGregor, Mike Tyson, Joe Rogan, Dana White, Carrie Underwood, and Christopher Macchio.

While Ye was not seen at the event, other attendees included Logan Paul, Jake Paul, Kodak Black, Theo Von, and Lee Greenwood.

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Kanye West’s anti-semitic remarks controversy revisited

Kanye West faced a lot of backlash after he posted several tweets and posts on various platforms that were widely condemned as antisemitism. In one of the posts made in October 2022, Ye said:

“I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3. On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

After his posts, he was locked out of Instagram, and his account on X, then known as Twitter, was also temporarily blocked. In the same year, Ye said in an interview with Fox News:

"When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief. I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering.”

Kanye faced a lot of criticism for many of his statements passed in 2021 and 2022. Allegedly, due to this, he also lost a lot of collaborations with brands like Vogue, Universal Music Group, CAA, Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas.

In December 2023, Ye put out an apology as he shared a message in Hebrew:

"I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions, it was not my intention to hurt or disrespect, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused."

At the moment, Trump has not reacted to the rapper's claims.