Kanye West dropped out of Coachella music festival following public backlash over his social media posts attacking ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson.
Organizers tapped pop singer The Weeknd to take Kanye’s place, but there’s one problem: The Weeknd wants the same $8.5 million that Kanye left on the table.
Apparently, Coachella organizers don’t think The Weeknd is worth as much as Kanye, aka Ye.
The organizers allegedly tried to shortchange The Weeknd after he stepped in to replace Ye as headliner later this month.
According to Page Six, The Weeknd threatened to pull out if the organizers didn’t give him equal pay as Ye, who was set to earn $8 million plus a $500,000 production fee.
A source tells Page Six, “The Weeknd came in at short notice to take Kanye’s top spot. But Phil Anschutz [who owns the Coachella Festival] wanted to hold on to Kanye’s money and pay The Weeknd far less, just a few million. The festival would pocket the rest.”
The Weeknd caught wind of Ye’s aborted payday and demanded he receive all of the money – not just a measly $3 million. After all, The Weeknd has bills to pay, too.
The demand led to hastily arranged meetings between Anschutz and The Weeknd’s people.
Coachella organizers announced early Wednesday that The Weeknd, 32, and house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia would take over for Ye on Sunday, April 17, and Sunday, April 24.
The source tells Page Six: “Even after Coachella announced the new lineup on Wednesday, a deal wasn’t in place for The Weeknd, who threatened to pull out at an hour’s notice if he didn’t get the same deal as Kanye.”
“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 said.
