The Weeknd Threatens to Pull Out of Coachella If He Doesn’t Get Kanye West’s $8.5 Million Paycheck – Report
The Weeknd, Kanye West's replacement as one of the headliners at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, reportedly wants the same bag Ye would've received or else.
The Weeknd has allegedly demanded that he be paid the same $8.5 million that was supposedly allotted to Kanye for the Coachella performance. Otherwise, the "Hurricane" singer says he won't perform at all, according to Page Six today (April 6). Hours prior, The Weeknd was announced as the headlining act with Swedish House Mafia to replace the Donda 2 rapper-producer at the popular music festival.
According to TMZ on Wednesday, Kanye was given a deal of $8 million for the two-weekend performances. Coachella was also set to pay $500,000 in production costs. The Coachella producers were "caught off-guard" when Kanye backed out from the show.
Despite the fact that Jason Lee, Ye's new Head of Media and Partnerships, issued a statement earlier this week, dispelling reports from Kanye's ex-wife Kim Kardashian that the recent Grammy award winner will be seeking external help in regards to his mental health, Page Six claims to have heard from their sources that the reasoning for Kanye backing out of a Coachella headlining slot is due to the fact that he wants to "stay out of the public eye after all the drama with Kim and Pete" and that he wants to "get help."
The news of Kanye's change of plans comes amidst a litany of controversies surrounding the Chicago native throughout recent months. Earlier this week, it was reported that Kanye decided, on his own, to not take the main stage on Sun., April 17, at the renowned Coachella festival.
Initial interest in the "Eazy" rapper's Coachella performance was heightened by the circulating rumors that Ye would be accompanied on stage by Travis Scott, which would've marked only the second public performance from the "Sicko Mode" rapper following the widely publicized tragedy that took place at the Astrowold Festival in November of 2021.
XXL has reached out to reps for The Weeknd and Kanye West for comment.