Childish Gambino Cancels Remainder Of ‘The New World Tour’ Due To Surgery

Childish Gambino’s first headline tour in five years has been called off in the middle of the trek with the rapper/actor/comedian/ otherwise known as Donald Glover announcing that he has to undergo surgery and will need time to heal.

The AEG-promoted “The New World Tour” started with an Aug. 11 show at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was supposed to include stops at 33 arenas across the U.S. and Canada, followed by performances in Europe and Australia.

On Friday Glover shared an update about his health on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying: “After my show in New Orleans, I went to the hospital in Houston to make sure of an ailment that had become apparent. After being assesed, it became clear i would not perform that night, and after more tests, i could not perform the rest of the US tour in the time asked. As of now I have surgery scheduled and need time out to heal.

“My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously. With that said, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the North American tour and the UK and European dates. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.”

Glover added, “I want nothing more than to bring this show to the fans and perform. Until then, thanks for love, privacy, and support.”

The news comes after Glover had already postponed the North American dates in September, with a Sept. 9 post on X saying he needed “to focus on my physical health for a few weeks.” At that time he said “ALL tickets will be honored for the upcoming dates in north america when they are rescheduled.” The day before that he announced his Sept. 8 concert at Houston’s Toyota Center was postponed due to illness.

Canceled stops on “The New World Tour” include Moody Center in Austin, Texas, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles; Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle; Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta; Accor Arena in Paris; The O2 in London and Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.

Since wrapping his 2018-2019 tour, “This Is America,” the bulk of Childish Gambino performances over the last several years have been at festivals, including a guest appearance at Coachella 2024 during Tyler, the Creator’s set. In 2019 he headlined a number of festivals including Coachella, Outside Lands and Austin City Limits.

The Aug. 11 “The New World Tour” kick-off at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, which featured support from Willow, sold 6,512 tickets and grossed $708,150.

In July Glover released Bando Stone and the New World, which is said to be the final album released under the Childish Gambino moniker.

Childish Gambino is booked by Wasserman Music’s Brent Smith worldwide. His management company is Wolf & Rothstein.