Kanye West has pulled out of Pastor Joel Osteen’s virtual Easter Sunday concert over safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Kanye West announced that he and his choir would perform at Joel Osteen’s special Easter Sunday concert. The original plan was that the choir would wear masks and maintaining social distance while recording songs with Kanye.
Eventually, the 42-year-old rapper decided that he could not satisfy either his artistic desires or his safety concerns with these arrangements.
Speaking about the virtual service, Osteen told TMZ that, “It just all came together. I don’t know that I did it too much, but it just kind of fell into place.”
Other virtual guests scheduled to perform include Mariah Carey singing her song Hero; as well as Tyler Perry, USA Today reported.
“I had known Mariah from years past” Pastor Joel Osteen said during a chat with TMZ. Osteen explained that Carey had summoned him to help her “do her part to bring hope and uplift the nation”.
Carey wanted to do so by putting together a tribute to health-care workers and first responders on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
On why he included Perry to his guest list, Osteen said his congregation will be happy to see his longtime friend back again. “He’s a very powerful speaker,” he says. “People at Lakewood love him.”
Kanye began his Sunday Services at the beginning of last year, eventually drawing such celebrity guests as Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper.