The Weeknd Has Also Threatened To Pull Out Of Coachella
A few days ago, Coachella organizers announced that the Weeknd would take Kanye West’s slots at Coachella along with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia. Both artists are indeed the two new headliners on Sunday April 17, and Sunday April 24, but it seems that things are not going as smoothly as planned. According to Page Six, the R&B singer has also threatened to pull out if he wasn’t paid the same amount of money as West: a hefty $8 million, plus a $500,000 production fee. The Page Six source said: “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. The festival would pocket the rest.”
Why would Coachella do that to The Weeknd? He has indeed accepted to step in at the last minute, so he should deserve to be treated with respect. If they were ready to throw that kind of money to a guy as unreliable as Kanye, they should pay Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, aka the Weekend, accordingly. With a total of 17 nominations for the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, he is hugely popular right?
People, and by people I mean Kanye’s fans, are calling Tesfaye greedy and I don’t understand why. Why this double standard? Because he is not a rapper? I have read comments saying he is nowhere near Kanye’s level. This is ridiculous, art is not a competition and both men don’t even make the same kind of music.
If the story is true, I don’t think Coachella has a choice at this point, they have to pay The Weeknd the sum he wants or they have another headliner problem… and the festival is next week!
After two rocky years due to the pandemic, the drama continues at Coachella.
