Kanye West Lost out on Big Payday by Quitting Coachella

Kanye West recently quit Coachella, and the rapper reportedly lost out on a big payday for canceling his headliner appearances. According to TMZ, West is forfeiting the $8 million he would have been paid for doing two sets. West was scheduled to headline the music festival on Sunday, April 17 and 24. In addition to West’s fee, TMZ reports that Coachella was taking on $500,000 in production costs for the performances.

West had previously threatened to pull out of the event after Eilish was alleged to have shaded Scott, following the tragic 2021 Astroworld Festival incident in Scott’s hometown of Houston, Texas. A mass of fans rushed the concert stage, leading to multiple deaths and near-countless injuries. Scott was heavily criticized for not stopping the concert before things got out of hand. In a later unrelated situation, Eilish stopped a concert when she noticed a fan in distress and made a comment about pausing the show. West took this as criticism of Scott and demanded that she apologize or he would not appear at Coachella, where she is also scheduled to perform. Reps for the singer stated that her comment was not related to the Astroworld tragedy.

West’s verbal attacks on ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson could be related to his Coachella cancellation, as thousands previously signed a Change.org petition to keep him from performing. “We have watched Kanye harass, manipulate, and hurt Kim [Kardashian], Pete [Davidson], and others for over a year now. No one seems to want to stand up to him, and the ones that do, he puts under fire as well,” reads a statement on the petition page. “Most recently, he has been threatening actual bodily harm on others. 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. Please sign & share!”

Davidson and Kardashian began dating in November, much to the chagrin of West. In March, the rapper dropped a music video for his new song “Eazy” — which features fellow rapper The Game — and in it, a claymation version of West is depicted as abducting a claymation Davidson and then driving him out to be buried up to the neck in dirt. He spreads flowers over Davidson’s head and then waters them, coming back later to pick the flowers and, seemingly, behead Davidson. The SNL later spoke out by way of leaked text messages, in which he made it clear to West that he was fed up with the harassment.