Ofcom confirm Kanye West’s explicit Brit Awards performance will not be investigated

151 viewers had complained over the rapper's frequent use of offensive language during the performance

Kanye West‘s controversial performance at this year’s Brit Awards, which saw many complain over “offensive” language, will not be investigated further.

West appeared at the awards ceremony in February, performing his single ‘All Day’ with an array of associates and grime MCs backing him onstage. As previously reported, a large part of the rapper’s performance on the night was censored by broadcaster ITV, due to West’s frequent use of the n-word within the song’s lyrics.

As The Guardian reports, Ofcom received 151 complaints regarding the performance due to the 39 instances of the n-word being used, some of which were aired uncensored.

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Now, Ofcom have issued a statement on the matter, stating that ITV had taken “steps” to ensure that the majority of “offensive language” was muted.

Ofcom’s statement reads: “We received a number of complaints that Kanye West’s language, shortly after the watershed, was offensive but we will not be taking the matter forward for investigation. Having carefully assessed these complaints, we noted that before the programme ITV took steps to ensure that offensive language was not used, and during the programme to mute the majority of it.”

In February, NME‘s Al Horner wrote of West’s Brits performance, “His coarse, uncompromising performance of ‘All Day’… did exactly what it meant to do. It continued the one-man political and cultural protest he’s been raging for years: a protest against the cosy culture nature of white-wash mainstream music awards and their persistent failure to recognise black artists.”

Over the weekend, Kanye West announced that he was changing the title of his upcoming new album. West had previously been planning on calling the record ‘So Help Me God’, later having a change of heart.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday (May 3), Yeezy made the surprise announcement that he’s instead naming the record ‘SWISH’, though has reserved the right to change it again if he so desires: “I’m changing my album name to SWISH,” he wrote. “I might change it again but that’s the name now.”

A tracklisting and release date has yet to be announced, though possible songs to feature on ‘SWISH’ include ‘All Day’, ‘Wolves’ and the Paul McCartney collaboration ‘Only One’.

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Meanwhile, West was recently voted one of the world’s most powerful people by Time magazine and made two cameo appearances at Coachella last month, first joining The Weeknd on stage before later surprising fans during Stromae’s set.

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