After an announcement that negative COVID-19 tests or full vaccination status will not be required at the Chicago listening party for Kanye West’s DONDA, organizers have announced that free COVID vaccines will be offered at Thursday’s event at Soldier Field.
A spokesperson confirmed to TMZ that 1,500 doses of Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available to attendees. Representatives from the Chicago Department of Health will be on hand to administer them to still-unvaccinated West fans.
The site notes that the vaccine distribution has not been endorsed by West, but it is instead being offered by ASM Global Management, who runs Soldier Field, in conjunction with the city of Chicago.
“It’s so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed,” West said in an interview with Forbes earlier this year. “So when they say the way we’re going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious. That’s the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven.”
He continued, “I’m sorry when I say they, the humans that have the Devil inside them. And the sad thing is that the saddest thing is that we all won’t make it to heaven, that there’ll be some of us that do not make it. Next question.”
Thursday’s event at Soldier Field will feature a re-creation of West’s childhood home in the city on the field where the Chicago Bears play. The rapper bought the house last year for $225,000.
Capacity in Soldier Field has been reduced to 38,000 from the usual 63,000.
As previously reported, West has filed paperwork to legally change his name to simply Ye.
“I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you,’” the eclectic rapper told Los Angeles radio host Big Boy in 2018, talking about his eighth studio LP’s title. “So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye — just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confusion, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”
As for his highly-anticipated listening party, “Kanye West’s performance is one of many examples that show that Chicago can be open and safe at the same time,” Soldier Field Chicago Park District spokeswoman Michelle Lemons said, according to The Chicago Tribune. “We have worked with Soldier Field on COVID-19 safety protocols, as we have other venues including Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Fields, and feel this event can be safely held with the proper mitigation efforts in place.”
West’s 10th studio album, DONDA, named after his late mother, is expected to be released on Friday.
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