Kanye West refused over £6m for Coachella headliner gig, reports say

West’s spot will be filled by The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia

Kanye West had earlier threatened to pull out of the festival if fellow headliner Billie Eilish didn’t apologise to Travis Scott over a perceived Astroworld jibe (Getty Images)

Kanye West allegedly refused £6.1m ($8m) when he decided not to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival later this month.

It was reported on Wednesday (6 April) that West – legally known as Ye – had pulled out of the two-weekend festival in California, leaving organisers scrambling to find last-minute replacements for the rapper’s closing night headliner shows.

Later on Wednesday, TMZ reported that The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia had agreed to take West’s spot on the festival line-up.

It has since been reported that Coachella organisers were willing to pay West £6.1m ($8m) for his performances, in addition to bearing a hefty production cost.

Page Six reported that The Weeknd had allegedly threatened to pull out of the show after Coachella organisers offered to pay him less than West, citing sources.

“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,” an insider told Page Six.

“Finally, on Wednesday — faced with the prospect of a second headline act pulling out of Coachella at the last minute – Anschutz’s company caved and agreed to pay the Weeknd the same money,” the source continued.

The Independent has reached out both to representatives for The Weeknd and Coachella for comment.

Multiple reports also indicated that West had been considering dropping out of Coachella for sometime , even if his team only informed the festival organisers of his decision on Wednesday. (6 April).

Kanye West’s Instagram account was suspended after he used a racial slur against ‘Daily Show’ host Trevor Noah (Getty Images)

The first two nights of Coachella will be headlined by Harry Styles and Billie Eilish.

West has earlier threatened to cancel his Coachella set if fellow headliner Eilish did not apologise to Travis Scott for what he perceived to be a dig over the Astroworld tragedy, in which 10 people died during Scott’s performance in October due to a crowd surge.

Rumours had emerged that Travis Scott would be joining West for his set. TMZ, however, have reported that Scott will not be appearing at Coachella either.

The Independent has contacted representatives of West and Scott for comment.

A petition for Coachella to drop West from its 2022 line-up was posted online last month after West used a racial slur against Trevor Noah on social media.

West’s derogatory Instagram post came after the Daily Show host said the situation between the rapper, ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson was “terrifying to watch”.

The musician had his account suspended, with Instagram’s parent company Meta confirming to The Independent that it had deleted content from West’s account and temporarily restricted the account from posting, commenting and sending direct messages.

The online petition demanding West be stopped from performing at Coachella has received nearly 50,000 signatures at the time of writing.