Kanye West’s ‘New Slaves’ Screening Fizzles at the Alamo
Kanye West‘s plan to project the video for his new track “New Slaves” on the facade of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fizzled on Sunday night, two days after the police in Houston shut down a screening the rapper had promised there.
A few hundred people gathered outside the Texas shrine to see the video, but the showtime posted on West’s website came and went without the video screening, the blog My San Antonio reports. Police in San Antonio said that because no permit had been issued for the event, they were prepared to shut down a projector should someone try to set one up (no one did).
Kanye West Premieres ‘New Slaves’ With Video Projections Around the World
“We were never asked, and we were never told what was going to happen,” said Mark Loeffler, spokesperson for the Texas General Land Office, which cares for the Alamo. “It’s sad that people have such little respect for the Alamo.”
Along with fans, members of the Texas National Movement also gathered at the Alamo to protest the screening: “It’s very disrespectful to the people who died here,” said Angie Alexander, a TNM member.
But one West fan named Michael Gomez argued that the projection wasn’t disrespectful or even vandalism: “It’s just an image that’s going to power off and then it’s gone.”
Houston police on Friday pre-empted a screening at Rothko Chapel there, breaking up an “upbeat, respectful crowd” and warning them they would be arrested for trespassing if they didn’t leave.
West premiered “New Slaves” earlier this month when he projected the video on the facades of 66 buildings across the world, before going on to perform the track, as well as another called “Black Skinhead,” on the season finale of Saturday Night Live. The two cuts are expected to appear on West’s new album, tentatively titled Yeezus and rumored to be due out on June 18th.