Kanye West performed to a sold-out crowd of 34,000 at the Estádio do Algarve in Loulé on Friday, after the Portuguese government declined to intervene despite calls from Israel's ambassador and the European Jewish Congress to scrap the event.
Israeli Ambassador Oren Rozenblat urged authorities to cancel, citing West's past statements praising Hitler and Nazi ideology. The European Jewish Congress made a similar appeal in June. Concerts by the rapper were cancelled or blocked across Europe, including in Britain, France, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland, and the UK barred West from entering the country earlier this year.
Torcato Jorge, head of promoter Raya Culture, said cancellation was "not a topic". The concert, West's third in Portugal, featured material from his album "Bully," released in March. West, who in January published an open letter denying he was antisemitic, last performed in the country 15 years ago.