Thursday, 15 November 2007

Kanye West pulls out of Victoria's Secret fashion show

Rapper will not perform

Kanye West has pulled out of performing at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, due to the death of his mother, Donda West, Entertainment Tonight reports.

The show, which also features a performance by the Spice Girls, is taping at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday and will air on Dec. 4 on CBS.

A rep for West could not immediately be reached for comment.

Donda West, 58, died Saturday at a Los Angeles hospital, a day after undergoing plastic surgery by Dr. Jan Adams. The coroner says an official cause of death won't be known for six to eight weeks pending toxicology tests, but for now described it as "complications of surgery."

Adams, through his spokesperson, has confirmed for the Associated Press that he performed a tummy tuck and breast reduction on Donda West. He told TMZ.com her death was not caused by the surgery.

In another development, the Discovery Health Network will no longer broadcast episodes of Plastic Surgery: Before and After, hosted by Adams. The surgeon had been hosting the series for five years until its final episode, which aired in June. Repeats of the show continued to run, but the network has decided to remove four episodes scheduled for this week. No decision has been made on whether Discovery Health will resume rerunning the show.

"We're just trying to be as sensitive as possible to everyone involved," network spokesman Chris Finnegan told the AP.

By Karen Salkin