Opinion: Change.org Petition Vs. Kanye’s Spotlight – Who Will Win?
When Glastonbury announced Kanye West as the headliner for the Saturday night of this year’s festival, people took to the Internet by the masses to complain. In an age where a virtual signature holds more weight than paper and ink, a petition was almost immediately in the works to remove West’s name from the bill.
What would people do without petitions? God forbid someone couldn’t make their case as to why the Queen should make them a sandwich. The ‘Ban Kanye’ petition, that has gained over 100,000 signatures, states “Lets prevent this musical injustice now!” and calls for a rock band, or at least “someone deserving” to take his headline position. West’s ego would surely state otherwise in the ‘deserving’ category. The creator of the petition, Neil Lonsdale, has never even attended the festival before but feels the need uphold Glastonbury’s standards through the meticulous use of the royal we.
It’s not that their anger is misdirected; West is the very definition of arrogance. The American rapper who managed to grab a Kardashian girl and name their daughter after a directional reading from a compass has called himself a “creative genius” multiple times.
Yet, in a world where popularity comes from ridicule and outrageous stunts, it’s hard to say West isn’t playing at the top of that game. From comparing himself to Jesus, yelling at a person in a wheelchair to stand up at one of his shows, and my personal favorite, telling Taylor Swift that Beyoncé was better than her, West could really be called the Miley Cyrus of the rap world if he showed a little skin.
Although West does have the reputation of being an arse, it’s not as if people would have stopped complaining if a different act was announced. Most of those on the internet 24/7 complain for the sake of complaining; not everyone can be pleased. Glastonbury has hundreds of acts play and is only attempting to diversify crowd sales with Foo Fighters and West as headliners.
Whether people love West or love to hate him, chances are they’ll still want to catch a glimpse of him to see what stunt he’ll pull off next. And if you really can’t stand the thought of even being in the same airspace as him, there will be 100 other acts playing at the same time far away from Yeezus himself.
Everyone has his or her reasons to dislike Kanye West, but for one reason or another he’s famous. Glastonbury isn’t about to cancel one of their biggest musicians because people started whining online. Chances are, most of those petitioning will still be at the festival, and are sure to be peeking around the corner when West pulls off another offensive feat.
