Ye, the rapper, hasn’t performed live since last year after receiving backlash in the music and fashion industries for a slew of antisemitic remarks.

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, made his first concert appearance on Monday. Last year, he lost lucrative fashion collaborations with Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga and became estranged from the music industry due to a slew of antisemitic remarks he made in interviews and on social media.

Ye made a surprise appearance on stage as a guest at Travis Scott’s livestreamed album release concert at Circus Maximus, a park in the heart of Rome that was formerly home to a sizable stadium used for chariot racing and other entertainment.

Ye’s protégé Scott surprised his mentor at a concert in honor of his newly released, number-one album, “Utopia.” Ye performed two of Ye’s songs together, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” a Kanye West hit from his 2007 album “Graduation,” and “Praise God,” from his 2021 album “Donda,” with Scott dressed in white and Ye all black (at first with a hood and mask, which didn’t stay on for long).

“Without Kanye West, ‘Utopia’ doesn’t exist,” Scott declared to the assembly. Without Kanye West, Travis Scott would not exist. Without Kanye West, Rome would not exist.

Ye eventually overstepped the line with the music and fashion sectors last fall after years of unpredictable and contentious behavior. He did this by showing up at Paris Fashion Week wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt and tweeting that he would “go death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” Due to this, he was kicked off of social media, fired from the Creative Artists Agency, and lost his collaborations on fashion design and the Yeezy shoe line. With Adidas accounting for over 10% of the company’s $2 billion in profit in 2021, the deal was particularly significant.

Ye reiterated his remarks in face of strong criticism. He began appearing on Alex Jones’s online talk program, “Infowars,” in December of last year. Jones is a conspiracy theorist who was forced to pay nearly $1.5 billion for spreading false information about the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. Ye declared, “I love Hitler,” and “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis,” on that program.

Since then, Ye has mostly kept a low profile; however, this week, Twitter allowed Ye to use their account again. Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, which has since changed its name to X, announced the suspension of the platform one day after the Infowars interview, citing Ye’s “violation of our rule against incitement to violence.”

Ye’s most recent performance was in Miami in February 2022, when he promoted his album “Donda 2,” prior to his Rome visit.