Kanye West will NOT be performing at Coachella later this month!
The 44-year-old rapper has just walked away from his headliner gig at the music festival, according to media reports published on Monday morning. The two-weekend event in Indio, California is set to start next weekend — but now, at the last minute, it’s lacking one of its major headliners.
Related: Kim Kardashian Opens Up About How Hard It’s Been To Deal With Kanye Amid Divorce!
According to TMZ, who were the first to break the news, it is “unclear exactly why” Ye has chosen not to perform at the music festival. Of course, he’s had a difficult time in the public eye over the last few months, taking to Instagram to repeatedly lash out at ex-wife Kim Kardashian, her new boyfriend Pete Davidson, and other public figures including D.L. Hughley and Trevor Noah. He’s also taken a contentious public stance on fellow headliner Billie Eilish recently as well, creating friction for the world-famous event.
And the outlet also reports that it’s not just Ye who will no longer be showing up at Coachella: Travis Scott, who was supposed to be a guest of Kanye’s on stage, will no longer perform at the festival, either. The show’s other headliners –Eilish, Harry Styles, and Swedish House Mafia — are still in place, but clearly there’s a big piece missing without Ye. It remains unclear where the festival will go from here, if folks can expect refunds, etc.
Innerestingly, this comes after a change.org petition to force Ye to be removed as a headliner got nearly 50k signatures. Organizers said Kanye was overtly trying to “manipulate” and “harass” Kim on social media and crossed another line by “threatening actual bodily harm” to her new boyfriend. They wrote:
“This is ridiculous that he is allowed to freely do this. Coachella (along with other brand names that are still working with him) should be ashamed of themselves and should not be giving him any more of a platform.”
It didn’t seem like Coachella had any plans to listen, but Ye is out just the same.
Kanye has been generally laying low lately. As we reported over the weekend, the Chicago native indicated to his ex that he’s “going away to get help” following weeks of aggressive and concerning social media tirades. Also, the rapper hasn’t been spotted publicly since attending son Saint‘s soccer game more than a week ago. So it’s clear that he is keeping a low profile — and perhaps this Coachella decision plays into that.
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Are U surprised to see Ye walk away from Coachella, or not?
[Image via TNYF/WENN]