Trevor Noah Responds to Kanye West Grammys Ban

Trevor Noah attends the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. — (Image credit: Getty/David Crotty)

Kanye West was recently banned from Instagram for 24 hours for posting harassing messages directed at a number of people, including his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, her new boyfriend Pete Davidson, and talk-show host Trevor Noah—to whom he addressed racist comments.

Since returning to Instagram, West has deleted all his posts and his profile reads "no posts yet" at time of writing.

Now, the rapper has suffered a further blow due to his social media activity: He was taken off the list of performers for the upcoming Grammys. A rep for West told Variety that the ban came in response to the artist's "concerning online behavior."

Responding to the news on Twitter, Trevor Noah wrote, "I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye."

I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye.March 20, 2022

This is in reference to Noah's earlier comments on The Daily Show, during which he suggested that West should seek out therapy in order to better his mental health (West lives with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder).

West's attacks towards various public figures have escalated amid his divorce from Kim Kardashian and the evolution of her relationship with Pete Davidson. The rapper has threatened violence towards the comedian—most notably as part of a disturbing music video.

But Noah's latest comments add an extra layer to the conversation: When someone who suffers from a mental health condition behaves poorly, do we simply ban them from participating in everything? What does that solve? His point seems to be that rather than simply punishing West, we should try to help him so that he in turn can stop attacking others. There is no simple answer to these questions, and ultimately the debate is much bigger than just Kanye West—but Noah has made us think, that's for sure.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.