Kanye West Screening in Houston Shut Down by Police
Third Coast Kanye West fans experienced quite the disappointment last night. The throngs of fans waiting outside the Rothko Chapel were greeted not by Yeezy's face, but by the police force. While those waiting at the two other projected locals experienced…crickets.
'Ye's has enacted quite the gorilla marketing campaign leading up to the June 18th release of his new album Yeezus. The campaign has so far included Instagram hints from (gf and baby mamma) Kim Kardashian and a splattering of video projections of a close-up of West performing Yeezus single "New Slaves" on buildings all over the world.
West's website includes a map with red dots which are thought to be hints at when and where the next projections will take place. Cities in the US and Europe were slated to get the West treatment last night—the Chicago rapper's twitter formally announced the locations yesterday.
But while other cities such as Atlanta and Philadelphia got to see their giant Kanye West head rapping, Houston wasn't so lucky. According to the Houston Chronicle, an "upbeat, respectful crowd" was patiently waiting outside the Rothko Chapel when police pulled several cars onto the grass (sirens flashing) and demanded everyone immediately leave the site or be arrested for trespassing. Fans quickly realized the whole cop car bit was not an elaborate ruse by Yeezy and left.
As for the other two red dots in Houston—the screening set for the Central Library downtown was cancelled due to technical issues and the third, at the George Bush Monument, didn't occur for unknown reasons. Janet Quiroa, a fan waiting for the Bush Monument screening said:
“All we saw were the sprinklers come on and obnoxious people screaming Kanye threats."
Kanye marketing team to Houston: We have a problem.
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