LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — More than 125,000 people have signed a petition to cancel Kanye West's headlining slot at this year's Glastonbury Festival in favor of a rock act.
The petition at Change.org says: "Kanye West is an insult to music fans all over the world. We spend hundreds of pounds to attend glasto, and by doing so, expect a certain level of entertainment. Kanye has been very outspoken on his views on music….he should listen to his own advice and pass his headline slot on to someone deserving! Lets prevent this musical injustice now!"
Festival organizer Emily Eavis responded to the petition in an article in The Guardian where she defended the festival's decision to book the polarizing West.
Eavis says that she wouldn't typically respond to this sort of criticism but due to the media attention that the petition has generated, she felt compelled to respond.
"We think the story this year should not be: 'Why is Kanye coming?' but: 'How amazing is it that Kanye is coming?' One of the world's biggest superstars and a music legend, always interesting, never boring. He has agreed to play a festival where headliners get paid a fraction of their normal rate in support of Oxfam, Water Aid and Greenpeace as well as thousands of other worthy causes. We think that's pretty great," Eavis wrote in The Guardian.
She also correctly notes that Glastonbury, particularly in recent years, has been anything but a rock exclusive festival.
"Those acts never have been limited to rock, and they never will be. Stevie Wonder, the Prodigy, Curtis Mayfield, the Chemical Brothers, Jay Z, Gorillaz, Beyoncé and plenty of others prove that," she wrote.
She also defended the choice of Kanye to perform, saying, "Ultimately, there is no question in my mind that we have got one of the greatest artists of his generation headlining, and we have no regrets at all about booking him."
"As the late, great Glastonbury regular Lou Reed said about Kanye: 'The guy really, really, really is talented. He's really trying to raise the bar. No one's near doing what he's doing, it's not even on the same planet.' And we've got him coming to our farm! In rural Somerset! That's great, right? I certainly can't wait to see his performance," she added. – Staff Writers
