It seems Kanye West lost out on a huge payday.
According to TMZ, the Grammy-winning artist gave up millions of dollars by pulling out of his 2022 Coachella gig. Sources tell the outlet Ye was set to receive $8 million plus a $500,000 production fee for his headlining performances on April 17 and April 24. Though his decision to drop out of the festival was seemingly last minute, sources suggested Ye may’ve been thinking of bailing for quite some time. TMZ reports Kanye’s team was “actively working” with Coachella organizers, but he had yet to seriously rehearse.
Coachella producers were reportedly blindsided by Kanye’s decision, and were left scrambling for possible replacements, including acts like Silk Sonic and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
On Thursday morning, event organizers announced The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia would fill in as the Sunday headliners; however, Page Six reports Abel’s decision to perform didn’t come without some friction as a “music source” told the publication that the Grammy-winning singer threatened to pull out of the festival if he didn’t receive the same payment as Kanye.
“The Weeknd came in at short notice to take Kanye’s top spot. But Phil Anschutz [who owns the Coachella Festival through AEG Live] wanted to hold on to Kanye’s money and pay The Weeknd far less, just a few million,” an insider told Page Six. “The festival would pocket the rest [...] Even after Coachella announced the new lineup on Wednesday, a deal wasn’t in place for The Weeknd, who threatened to pull out at an hour’s notice if he didn’t get the same deal as Kanye. Finally, on Wednesday — faced with the prospect of a second headline act pulling out of Coachella at the last minute — Anschutz’s company caved and agreed to pay the Weeknd the same money.”
Another source told the outlet Anschutz was not directly involved with the reported negotiations. A rep for Kanye declined to comment on the reported money involved; Complex reached out to a representative for Weeknd as well.
Kanye, who was announced as a Coachella headliner nearly two months, threatened to drop out of the festival back in February when he accused Billie Eilish of dissing Travis Scott. The drama began after Eilish had paused a live performance after realizing one of the audience members was struggling to breathe.
“I wait for people to be OK before I keep going,” she told the crowd.
Some people believed Eilish’s comment was a dig a Scott, who faced backlash over the deadly events at the 2021 Astroworld Festival. Kanye said he would’t perform at Coachella unless Eilish issued an apology to Scott and the families of the Astroworld victims.
“Literally never said a thing about Travis,” Eilish responded on Twitter. “Was just helping a fan.”
