Kanye West is demanding Billie Eilish apologize to fellow rapper Travis Scott, and threatened to pull out of Coachella if she did not. Last week, Eilish stopped her Atlanta concert to make sure a member of the audience got an inhaler because she was having trouble breathing. The singer told the crowd that she waits “for people to be okay before I keep going,” which some – including West – insinuated as a slam at Scott over the Astroworld tragedy. Eilish never said Scott’s name, and sources later told PopCulture.com there “was no shade” directed at Scott.
West shared a screenshot of an Instagram post from a site that linked Eilish’s comments to Scott. “Come on Billie, we love you. Please apologize to Trav and to the families of the people who lost their lives,” West wrote in all capital letters and with no punctuation. “Trav didn’t have any idea of what was happening when he was on stage and was very hurt by what happened. Yes, Trav will be with me at Coachella, but now I need Billie to apologize before I perform.”
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It’s not clear why West claims Scott will be with him at Coachella. Scott was originally set to perform at the 2022 edition, but organizers dropped him from the line-up after the Astroworld tragedy in November. Eilish, Harry Styles, Swedish House Mafia, and West were named the Coachella 2022 headliners. The festival is scheduled for April 15-17 and April 22-24 at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California.
During one of the first dates on her Happier Than Ever tour, Eilish noticed a member of the audience having trouble breathing. She stopped performing and gave the woman an inhaler she had with her on the stage. After it was clear the woman was going to be fine, Eilish told the crowd, “I wait for people to be okay before I keep going.” Eilish did not say anything about Scott, but several media outlets, including TMZ, suggested her comment was meant to be a reference to Scott.
On Nov. 5, 2021, a crowd rush began when Scott was performing at NRG Park in Houston as part of his Astroworld Festival. Ten people, between the ages of 9 and 27 died. The cause of death for all 10 was determined to be “compression asphyxia.” One of the victims, 27-year-old Mirza Danish Baig, also had “toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine, and ethanol” listed as a contributing factor to his death. Over 300 people were injured, including 25 people who were hospitalized. Scott was named as a defendant in a $2 billion lawsuit filed by 280 plaintiffs. The other defendants include Live Nation, NRG Stadium, and Drake, who performed alongside Scott during the crush.
Scott was criticized for continuing to perform during the tragedy, but he has claimed that he was not aware that anything went wrong. “Anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need,” Scott said. “Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective call and response. I just didn’t hear that.”
