Kanye West has withdrawn from his slot as the Coachella’s headlining performer. The news comes just two weeks before the festival was set to begin, and West was supposed to be the closing act for both weekends on April 17 and April 24.
Coachella no more —
Although West and his reps haven’t released an official statement or specific reason for his sudden cancelation, some could have predicted all along that he would be the Coachella dropout, if you will. A source confirmed to Variety that he hadn’t shown up for rehearsals or showed any signs of preparing for his performance.
West wasn’t allowed to perform at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, where he won Best Rap Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance, because of his “concerning online behavior.”
There were also rumors that Travis Scott would join West at Coachella, which is out of the question now, according to TMZ. The news may come as a disappointment to Scott, who probably hoped this would be a shot at redemption after the disaster of his Astroworld performance in 2021 that resulted in 10 deaths and millions of dollars in lawsuits.
Marilyn Manson and DaBaby, who both performed alongside West at his Donda shows, had probably hoped for a similar outcome. Instead, the collaborations only drew more criticism against West for aligning himself with others accused of sexual harassment and homophobia.
A troubling year for Ye —
West has previously spoken out about suffering from bipolar disorder, and recent personal events have put an even deeper strain on the rapper’s public image.
The rapper has taken extreme measures in trying to sabotage ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s new relationship with Pete Davidson (whom he refers to as “Skete,” which is slang for ejaculation) and her parental decisions (specifically regarding their kids’ use of TikTok). His ongoing pattern of harassment and inappropriate comments led to a temporary Instagram ban last month and prompted many women to speak out about the dangers of angry, stalking exes.
West’s decision to withdraw from the festival could be a fulfillment of the promise he made to Kardashian last week of “not making any public appearances or inflammatory social media statements,” according to a source’s statement to Page Six. His Yeezy Gap and Adidas Yeezy lines are better than ever, but given the rapper’s turbulent past couple of weeks, one can hopefully assume he’ll be prioritizing some solitary soul-searching.
