MIAMI — Kid Cudi cut his headlining performance short after the crowds kept throwing items at him.
His set lasted roughly 15 minutes.
“Yo I will walk off this stage if y’all throw one more f—ing thing up here,” Cudi said over the beat of his song “Marijuana.” “I will walk leave right now.”
Shortly thereafter, what appeared to be a bottle soared past Cudi’s head. He dropped the mic and slowly sauntered off stage. The boos soon began to rain down as if the sky opened up (it actually did around the same time causing a brief scramble for cover among fans).
It’s unclear why fans began throwing items at Cudi. Many people on Twitter speculated it had something to do with Cudi replacing Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, who dropped out of the festival last week “due to circumstances outside of our control,” according to festival organizers. If that’s the case, the situation mirrors Drake’s experience at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flognaw Festival in 2019. Many fans assumed the surprise guest headliner was Frank Ocean and began to boo when Drake came out.
“I’m here for you tonight. If you wanna keep going, I will keep going,” Drake said to the crowd. A huge “NO!” arose from the crowd and Drake soon walked off.
Whether coincidence or not, Lil Durk had just began his set at the same time Cudi’s abruptly ended. The Chicago-born rapper would later bring out Ye towards the end of his performance, much to the delight of fans. The two performed Cardi B’s new single “Hot S—” before West launched into the Cudi-assisted “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.”
The relationship between Cudi and Ye has been rather tense as of late. After a friendship stretching back at least a decade, the two appear to be on bad terms over Cudi’s closeness with former "Saturday Night Live" star Pete Davidson, who is dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian. In April, Cudi took to Twitter to announce he and West will no longer make music.
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