Kanye West walked away from quite a pretty penny when he decided to bail out on Coachella! And now The Weeknd wants a piece of that action!
As we’ve been reporting, Ye decided not to perform at the Indio, California-based music festival set to kick off later this month, making an unexpected last-minute choice to step away from his headliner gig at the event. We are now learning more about the financial fallout from that — and it sounds like The Weeknd has a new tactic regarding his Coachella contract because of it!
Related: Umm… Did Kendall Jenner Just Subtly Shade Kanye?!
According to Page Six, the Jesus Walks rapper walked away from a seven-figure deal when he quit on Coachella! In fact, sources with knowledge of the deal itself told the outlet that Ye was set to make a whopping $8 MILLION for his two performances as the show’s Sunday headliner each weekend. The festival had even agreed to front half a million dollars in production costs for his elaborate show, too!
But now, knowing all of that, The Weeknd is stepping up with a big demand of his own! According to Page Six, the singer — who was announced on Wednesday morning as Kanye’s replacement as the festival’s new Sunday headliner — quickly threatened to walk away unless he got Yeezy’s paycheck!
According to the outlet, festival organizers allegedly tried to stiff The Weeknd out of the $8 million fee, opting instead to offer him “far less” to perform in the same slot. Understandably, the singer has balked, and is demanding Ye’s entire 7-figure fee AND the half-million dollars of production money!
An insider explained to the news org what happened when AEG Live owner Phil Anschutz, who owns Coachella, tried to cut costs on the show’s replacement:
“The Weeknd came in at short notice to take Kanye’s top spot. But Phil Anschutz wanted to hold on to Kanye’s money and pay The Weeknd far less, just a few million. The festival would pocket the rest.”
Yikes! Not a good look!
Eventually, it sounds like The Weeknd got his way through the negotiations:
“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.”
Damn!
Good for him. Get paid, especially when you’re coming in on such short notice like that!
As for Kanye’s (non) payday, Kim Kardashian‘s ex-husband officially forfeits all of that cash upon quitting on the desert-based music festival. Ye already has tons of money, of course, so it’s not like he’ll be hurting that much over this missed opportunity. Still, that was quite the lucrative contract — all for it to go up in smoke just like that!
TMZ reported another interesting tidbit about Ye’s Coachella cancellation, too: he apparently “hadn’t seriously rehearsed” for his performance prior to quitting. Additionally, the outlet claims insiders say Ye “hadn’t been serious” about his newly-canceled performance “for quite some time, if ever.” So even though the festival only recently learned he would not be attending, these claims sure make it seem like he had long since been planning to skip out on the event.
Related: Kanye West Brings Kim Kardashian Lookalike GF Chaney Jones To Meet His Family!
Of course, as we’ve reported, it sounds like Ye is taking this time to lay low and work on himself. So if that’s really the case, then good! More power to him! We sincerely hope he gets to a better, healthier, happier place after all this. And if it means skipping out on Coachella in the process, the fashion designer’s personal well-being is definitely more important than a music festival.
Just saying!
[Image via Derrick Salters/WENN]
The post The Weeknd Demanded Kanye’s Absolutely INSANE Coachella Paycheck -- Festival Allegedly Wanted To Pay Him 'Far Less' appeared first on Perez Hilton.