Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori have become a nuisance for the Italian authorities, leading them to open an inquiry about their alleged lewd act on the boat in Venice, which, if proven, carries a hefty fine or jail time.
However, there is one tiny problem: The controversial rapstar has left the country before the investigation to Ireland.
Shoeless Ye was spotted at the Dublin Airport with his entourage after leaving on September 1 to visit his pal Steve Lacy, who is performing at the Electric Picnic Festival, per The US Sun.
Back in Italy, tensions were running high as locals’ outcry spurred the popular lagoon city police to tighten the noose around the outspoken rapper as the driver of the infamous boat is enlisted to be questioned on what unusual activity he noticed while driving and examinations of the photographs about the incident are underway.
“There are standards of public decorum that have to be followed by tourists and locals alike and any breaches are severely punished,” a police insider confided to Daily Mail.
The source continued, “The images of West with his trousers down while in a taxi as he and his partner crossed the lagoon were seen all over the globe.”
“You could clearly see his trousers were half down and we have received complaints from people who witnessed it. Now we have identified the driver of the boat and we will be asking him what he saw as well,” the anonymous stated.
Adding, “The images show the couple clearly in a state of intimacy and if the local prosecutor decides to press charges then we will notify the couple, most probably through the relevant embassies.”
“The offence being investigated is acts contrary to public decency which is punishable by an administrative sanction,” the Venetian source warned.
Considering the famous tourist spot sensitivities, even minor violations resulted in fines, including open-air picnics, canal swimming, and lounging on public building steps.
Meanwhile, locals call for an unsparing punishment for the couple that could be exemplary for others – invoking ‘public indecency’ charges – which could see them ordered to pay up to €10,000 or four years behind bars if proven guilty, as per the Italian Constitutional Court.
Soothing the public anger, Venice councillor for public security, Elisabetta Pesc, told the publication, “Without any shadow of doubt what we saw from the couple was a lack of respect for Venice, which is the most enchanting city in the world.”
Kanye and Bianca’s repeated wild antics even entered the agenda list of the city’s major as a tipster tattled to the outlet that Luigi Brugnaro’s monthly meeting on public security would discuss the matter.
“Venice is famous for being one of the most beautiful cities in the world and we expect tourists to maintain a respectable level of decency when visiting,” the insider revealed.
“These public acts of spectacle are not what we or the millions of tourists who come here each year wish to see and we take a very dim view of it,” adding, “We can only hope that the prosecutor imposes a fine and then the couple will think long and hard about their behaviour if they return to Venice in the future.”