Kanye West Pulls Out of Coachella

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West has pulled out of his scheduled appearance at the Coachella festival, a source confirms to Variety.

Reps for West and the festival did not immediately respond to requests for comment; the news was first reported by TMZ.The reason for his cancelation was not immediately clear, although a source tells Variety that he had not rehearsed or prepared for the appearance.

While West played a full set, accompanied by Drake, at the Los Angeles Coliseum in December, Coachella is North America’s biggest music festival and by necessity runs a very tight operation.Yet there are many reasons why news does not come as a shock, as West’s unpredictable and combative behavior in recent months put a question mark over his appearance even as it was announced; he had been barred from a planned appearance at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards due to what was described as his “concerning online behavior.” West canceled the closing dates of his 2016 “Saint Pablo” tour and was hospitalized for mental-health reasons shortly afterward, following incidents that were similar in ways to his behavior in recent months.

West was scheduled to play the closing night of the two-weekend festival, which runs April 15-17 and April 22-24. The first two nights will be headlined by Harry Styles and Billie Eilish.The festival essentially hedged its bets by billing EDM titans Swedish House Mafia in an unspecified spot on the lineup, listed at the bottom of the poster announcing the full lineup, which was unveiled early in January.Rumors had been circulating that Travis Scott would be joining West for the performance, but TMZ says that he will no be appearing either.