Update: 4/6/22: Sweedish House Mafia have been bumped up to the headlining slot on the third day. They won’t perform alone, as The Weeknd will join them to replace Ye.
JUST IN: Swedish House Mafia x The Weeknd are Coachella's new Sunday headliner, replacing Kanye West. pic.twitter.com/ez3wV5jIjd
— Consequence (@consequence) April 6, 2022
Original: There will be no Kanye “Ye” West at Coachella this year, according to TMZ. Two weeks before Ye, 44, was scheduled to close out the two-weekend festival (Apr. 15-17, 22-24), the “Jail” rapper has decided to cancel his appearance. As to what may have prompted Kanye to supposedly walked away from the biggest musical event of the year, TMZ notes it’s “unclearly exactly why” he decided to pull out. TMZ also notes that Ye wasn’t coming alone: supposedly, Travis Scott was really going to join Kanye, marking the first time La Flame made a major public performance since the deadly AstroWorld tragedy in November 2021.
HollywoodLife has reached out for comment and will update the post with any additional information when it’s made available.
Ye was set to headline along with Harry Styles and Billie Eilish. Coincidentally, Billie, 20, was at the center of a Coachella-Kanye controversy in February. During one of Billie’s performances in January, she saw a concertgoer in distress and asked her security to grab the fan an inhaler. “I wait for people to be okay before I keep going,” she said. With the AstroWorld tragedy still fresh in everyone’s minds, some took this as shade towards Travis – and one of those people was Kanye West.
“COME ON BILLIE WE LOVE YOU PLEASE APOLOGIZE TO TRAV AND TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES,” Kanye wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post. “NO ONE INTENDED THIS TO HAPPEN TRAV DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED AND YES TRAV WILL BE WITH ME AT COACHELLA BUT NOW I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM.”
Billie responded to Kanye’s post, writing, “literally never said a thing about travis. was just helping a fan.” This seemed to do the trick, and Ye was set to headline Coachella as planned. Obviously, plans have changed, and now the festival’s organizers will have to scramble to find a suitable replacement. EDM stars Swedish House Mafia may step in to fill the gap since they were listed at the same level as the other three headliners on the year’s lineup flyer. Or, recent Grammy Award-winner Doja Cat might get promoted to the headlining spot. However, Page Six‘s sources say, “Look for The Weeknd to replace him.”
Speaking of the Grammys, Ye was supposed to perform at the Apr. 3 event. The rapper won two more awards at the 2022 show – Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rap Song – which broke the record for most wins for a hip-hop artist. However, Ye’s rep confirmed the reports that he had been pulled from the program, citing Ye’s “concerning online behavior” over host Trevor Noah and his ex, Kim Kardashian.