Following from a bizarre mid-show rant on Tuesday, Kanye West, who is currently in Australia for his rescheduled national tour, was reportedly rushed to hospital in Melbourne just hours before his final show in the city last night.
West had been shooting hoops at the State Basketball Centre where he was quickly rushed off to hospital. The rapper arrived on a stretcher carried by paramedics at Epworth Hospital shortly after 2pm.
According to the Herald Sun, nurses were told to clear out the waiting room and consulting rooms so that West could be seen to privately.
A woman whose daughter was in the middle of an MRI scan said that West’s security entourage “burst in and cleared the area” of everyone except herself and her daughter as they were unable to move due to the scan.
“Next thing we knew, Kanye was stretchered in surrounded by security. He had one side of his face covered with something white. We both knew it was him because we had seen his photo in the paper everyday and we were shocked because it looked so serious,” she told Women’s Day.
There has not been an official statement from West about the incident, but doctors reportedly feared that the rapper had either experienced a seizure or was believed to be on the verge of experiencing one.
The hospital has also taken to Twitter today to defend how they handled the incident and their treatment of other patients.
Wed aft approx 50 patients in Epworth ED. All treated with respect & according to severity of symptoms–which we do not discuss publicly.
— Epworth (@Epworth) September 11, 2014
Individual patient details are private. Epworth does not discuss these publicly without permission from the patient concerned.
— Epworth (@Epworth) September 11, 2014
West was released from hospital a few hours later.
As they say in the music business, the show must go on, and despite the scare West was on stage in Melbourne later that night.
Tour promoter for the Yeezus tour, Live Nation, had no comment on the hospital visit, but said the tour will continue to go ahead as planned.
“Kanye went on stage last night in Melbourne as scheduled,” a Live Nation spokeswoman said today. “The tour continues at Sydney’s Allphones Arena tomorrow and Saturday, before concluding in Brisbane on Monday night.”
In addition to the two shows, Melbourne has also been getting their Yeezus fill off stage, with West opening up a surprise pop-up shop on Chapel st.
Part art gallery, part fashion boutique, part merch desk; the store is selling clothing designed by California-based artist Wes Lang, who uses the imagery featuring skeletons, undead Indian chiefs and controversially the Confederate flag based styles presented in a kind of minimalist Americana-influenced atmosphere.
Kanye West Australian Tour 2014
Friday 5th September – Perth ArenaSunday 7th September – Adelaide Entertainment CentreTuesday 9th September – Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneWednesday 10th September – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Friday 12th September – Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney
Saturday 13th September – Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney
Monday 15th September – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Tickets and info livenation.com.au
