Kanye West has dropped out of the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. According to TMZ, the Chicago rapper, who was slated to headline alongside Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Swedish House Mafia, will no longer be performing at this year’s event. The reasons for his decision are unclear, but sources confirmed that Ye was planning to bring Travis Scott out as a guest. Now, neither of them will be taking the stage.
As fans know, Scott was originally tapped to headline the 2020 and 2021 events, but both were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the return of Coachella was announced months ago, he was once again named a headliner in the show. Unfortunately, however, his big performance ended before it began.
While taking the stage at his Astroworld Festival, a stampede arose, killing ten people and injuring countless others. Scott was critiqued for his alleged negligence and became a target of a petition that called for his removal from Coachella. Over 60,000 people signed the Change.org request, prompting festival organizers to contact Cara Lewis, the rapper’s longtime agent, and announce that they would be pulling Scott from his headlining performance.
As for West, he’s no stranger to the Coachella stage. The star behind the Grammy-award-winning Donda headlined Coachella in 2011 with Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire and The Strokes. He also took the stage with his Sunday Service Choir for a special Easter Day performance that featured songs like “Jesus Walks” and “Ultralight Beams” and a prayer from the late DMX.
The 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will kick off on April 15 and will end the following weekend on April 24. Though rap is no longer represented in the headlining acts, artists from the genre, including Lil Baby, Big Sean, City Girls and more, will hit the stage throughout the festival.