The Weeknd’s performance at Coachella remains in limbo over his booking fees. The “Starboy” hitmaker is demanding the same $8.5 million booking fee Kanye West reportedly received or else he is out.
Coachella has named two big-name replacements for Kanye West. The California-based music festival is just one week away from starting and is much anticipated as it is the first staging since the pandemic started in early 2020.
On Wednesday, the festival released a new poster showing West’s slot now has other artists. The new poster comes following unconfirmed reports days before that Kanye West had pulled out of the event. Kanye was previously set to perform on April 17 and April 24, but he had stated in one of his Instagram outbursts last month that he was going to pull out of the event unless another headliner, Billie Eilish, apologized to his friend and brother-in-law, Travis Scott.
The new poster has no other material changes and will see Billie Eilish to headline on April 16 and 23. The artists also performing on those days include Megan Thee Stallion, Disclosure, 21 Savage, Danny Elfman, Stromae, Giveon, Anitta, and Koffee, among others.
The first-weekend staging will see Harry Styles opening on April 15 and also headlining on April 22. The other artists for those days include Lil Baby, Daniel Caesar, Phoebe Bridgers, Big Sean, Grupo Firme, Louis the Child, Baby Keem, and a host of others.
Swedish House Mafia’s return is not coincidental as they were to be the original headliners for the 2021 festival, but that was canceled due to spikes in Covid-19 cases and the decision not to host the event.
Meanwhile, there is no official word from Kanye, whom Page Six reported had pulled out of the event. He had also teased before bringing Travis Scott on stage during his set.
On the other hand, The Weeknd comes back to Coachella for the fourth time. He previously performed at the event in 2012, 2015, and 2018. This year’s Coachella is set for April 15 to April 24 in Indio, Calif.
The Weeknd joining Coachella lineup is not yet finalized since the Canadian singer is reportedly demanding the same fee the festival was booking Kanye West for. Kanye was reportedly booked for $8 million plus and additional $500,000 for production costs surrounding his performance. The Weeknd is now threatening to pull out of the festival if he is not offered the same fee.
Kanye West has not broken his silence on the reason for his dropping out of the event. However, a recent change.org petition had called for him to be removed after his various outbursts and threats on Instagram against comedians D.L Hughley, Pete Davidson, and others.
