With Kanye West no longer performing at the upcoming Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, those in charge of the multi-day event needed to find some replacements.
Those replacements have now been named, as The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia are now officially headliners for the music festival.
The announcement of West’s replacements arrives following news that the rapper had officially pulled himself out of the festival’s lineup, just as a petition against him performing at the event neared 50,000 signatures.
The Weeknd, Swedish House Mafia replace Kanye as headliners
Earlier this week, Kanye West dropped out of Coachella as one of its headline performers. The rapper was scheduled for two dates during the event: Sunday, April 17, and Sunday, April 24.
According to an Instagram post via @coachella (below), now that West is out, The Weekend and Swedish House Mafia will take over as the headliners on those two dates.
The Weeknd heads into the event off the success of his latest album, Dawn FM. Swedish House Mafia collaborated with The Weeknd, as the progressive house supergroup produced two tracks for the album, Sacrifice and How Do I Make You Love Me?
While they don’t have a new album out, they’ve also released several songs within the past two years, including Moth to a Flame featuring The Weeknd and Redlight with Sting.
Kanye West, who won two Grammy awards this past weekend, was initially scheduled as one of three headliners for Coachella along with Billie Elish and Harry Styles. According to the official concert lineup, Eilish and Styles are still headliners on their respective dates.
The annual festival kicks off in Indio, California, on Friday, April 15, and will have shows Saturday, April 16, and Sunday, April 17. Additional shows arrive on April 22 through April 24.
West’s drama with Kim K, others made headlines for weeks
Ahead of Kanye West removing himself from Coachella, a Change.org petition arrived from an individual trying to get West taken out of the lineup as a headline act. That petition sits at 49,727 signatures as of this report.
The petition description indicated it was due to seeing West “harass, manipulate, and hurt Kim, Pete, and others for over a year now.” The petition also mentioned West was “threatening actual bodily harm on others.”
The bodily harm reference is due to West’s line in the rap song Eazy and suggestive images in the music video for the song.
For the past several months, the outspoken rapper has also used Instagram to rant about his divorce and shared custody situation. In addition, he’s taken aim at various individuals he had beef with, including Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, who is dating Kanye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.
Several weeks ago, West also mocked and attacked comedians D.L. Hughley and Trevor Noah, the host of this year’s Grammys. West directed a slur at Noah in one of his Instagram posts, bringing about a 24-hour suspension for the rapper. He was also removed as a Grammys performer due to his concerning online behavior.
Following his Instagram suspension, all of West’s posts were removed from his IG page, and he’s been silent ever since.
The rapper was married to Kim Kardashian in 2014, but Kim filed for divorce last February after various issues between them. The couple shares four children: North, Psalm, Chicago, and Saint.