Is Kanye West dropping Joel Osteen from their joint tour and replacing him with Justin Bieber? That’s what one gossip site is claiming this week, but the story is total nonsense. Gossip Cop can set the record straight.
According to the celebrity “news” site Naughty Gossip, West was planning a live tour with televangelist Osteen, but it’s unraveling before it even starts as the two “divas” are unable to reconcile their differences. A “source” who is never identified say that West has decided to bring Bieber on tour with him instead. “The two of them together would be an act of god,” allege the insider.
It’s a little bizarre just how wrong everything is about this story. Gossip Cop looked into it and nothing about it is true. It seems like Naughty Gossip read a bunch of recent headlines from legitimate news outlets and rearranged some of the wording to make up a new story.
First off, if you’re wondering why this is the first you’re hearing about a West/Osteen live tour, it’s because it doesn’t exist, at least not yet. What’s actually happening is that Osteen and his wife are going on tour, and West will be joining them at Yankee Stadium in May. The two had previously teamed up for a show at Osteen’s Houston church in November. West has been bringing his Sunday Service show to new locations around the country as well, but Osteen isn’t joining him for a joint tour just yet.
Second, there’s no evidence of a falling out of any kind between West and Osteen. Not only are tickets are still on sale for their May show, but Osteen and West are clearly friendly. In a December interview with Good Morning America, the televangelist said that he and West “struck up a conversation and a friendship” following the rapper’s newfound religious zeal. Osteen also described the musician as “very genuine” and a “fantastic person.”
Third, there’s the part about Bieber. This one is so obvious it’s almost painful: Bieber is not joining West on the road because he’s starting his very highly publicized Changes tour in May. The gossip site likely just read recent headlines that Bieber performed at West’s Sunday Service last weekend and decided to invent its own sequel.
West’s recent religious projects have led to some truly entertaining, though false, tabloid headlines of late. In December, Star claimed West was forcing Kim Kardashian to leave Keeping Up with the Kardashians and join him on the road preaching. A rep for West dismissed the story as “nonsense” for Gossip Cop. Less than two weeks later, we busted the National Enquirer for writing that Kardashian was divorcing her husband over his “obsession” with religion. Most recently, and perhaps most ridiculously, NW alleged that West was building a doomsday bunker on his Wyoming estate in the event of a biblical apocalypse. That one, you will be shocked to hear, was also false.
Sources
Garvey, Marianne. “Kanye West and Joel Osteen set to team up again for a night at Yankee Stadium.” CNN, 5 Dec. 2019.
“Kanye West Brings Sunday Service To Miami On Super Bowl Sunday.” CBS Miami, 29 Jan. 2020.
Bernabe, Angeline Jane. “Joel Osteen on his friendship with Kanye West and their next big collaboration.” Good Morning America, 17 Dec. 2019.
Zemler, Emily. ” Justin Bieber Announces New Album ‘Changes,’ North American Summer Tour.” Rolling Stone, 28 Jan. 2020.
Parke, Caleb. “Justin Bieber leads worship at Kanye West’s Sunday Service.” Fox News, 24 Feb. 2020.
Matis, Griffin. “Kanye West Forcing Kim Kardashian To Quit Her Show And Preach Religion On The Road?” Gossip Cop, 4 Dec. 2019.
Matis, Griffin. “Kim Kardashian, Kanye West Divorcing Over His Religious Obsession?” Gossip Cop, 12 Dec. 2019.
Broman, Laura. “Kanye West Preparing For ‘Doomsday,’ Plans To Repopulate World With Kim Kardashian?” Gossip Cop, 28 Jan. 2020.