ABOVE: Mike Drolet reports on why Toronto is divided on the choice of Kanye West as headliner for the Pan Am Games closing ceremony.
TORONTO — An online petition to get Kanye West dropped as headliner of the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games topped 10,000 names on Thursday morning.
“It would only be just to ask a proud Torontonian (or even a Canadian for that matter) in the music industry to perform,” reads the petition by Allen Simans.
“Choosing someone like Kanye West raises several concerns among people. Why was a local artist or group not chosen and supported, just as our local athletes are throughout the games?”
On social media, there is plenty of anger over the choice of the U.S. rapper for the July 26 event.
(Oddly, not as many people are irate about the fact that U.S. rapper Pitbull is also performing.)
Radio legend Alan Cross opined in a blog post Wednesday that West should not headline the closing ceremony because he’s an “a**hole who’s married to a Kardashian.” He added that “unbridled arrogance isn’t a Canadian trait.”
But Cross pointed out that West is a big draw (tickets for the closing ceremony were still available prior to Wednesday’s announcement).
“Kanye is an international draw and these are, after all, international games,” Cross wrote. “He’s known to practically everyone in the Americas.” Cross reluctantly admitted that West “is a good choice.”
BELOW: Canadian athletes support Kanye West
Wednesday’s announcement that West will headline the closing ceremony has enraged Canadians who, only a few weeks ago, were accused of being complacent about the Pan Am Games.
Here’s a look at the rage against Kanye — and a reality check.
The Pan Am Games should have booked a Canadian headliner
The percentage of Canadian content in the closing ceremony is certainly a valid discussion to have. Only one-third of the line-up is Canadian (homegrown singer Serena Ryder).
But here’s why some of the outrage isn’t reasonable:
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– The Pan Am Games closing ceremony is a televised event and needs to attract (and appeal to) a wide audience. While it would be nice to showcase artist like Jann Arden, she is not well known outside of Canada. In fact, Ryder likely has a spot in the show only because she recorded the Games’ official anthem.
– This is the closing ceremony for the Pan American Games. Kanye West is American. Pitbull is Cuban-American. Serena Ryder is Canadian. That’s a fairly Pan American line-up.
– Where was the social media outrage and online petition when the Pan Am Games booked Cirque du Soleil for the opening ceremony? Although rooted in Canada, Cirque is majority-owned by U.S. investment firm TPG Capital and Chinese company Fosun.
BELOW: Does the Kanye West Pan Am controversy hurt or help the games?
– On social media, many have wondered why the Pan Am Games didn’t book Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Deadmau5 or Barenaked Ladies. For starters, Twain is doing a concert that night in Illinois; Dion is in Boston caring for her ailing husband; Deadmau5 has a gig in Japan the night before; and BNL is performing in Virginia on the night of the closing ceremony. The online petition suggested Walk Off The Earth (sorry, singer Sarah Blackwood will be 39 weeks pregnant by then). Bryan Adams? He’s in Ohio that night. Carly Rae Jepsen? She has a show in the UK the night before.
Sure, there are Canadian acts that could have flown in for a quick song or two (Rush has the night off between concerts in Philadelphia and Newark; Shawn Mendes performs the night before in Massachusetts) and Neil Young could stick around after his July 24 show north of Toronto. And perhaps The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Michael Buble and Nelly Furtado had other plans.
– The Pan Am and Para Pan Am Games are showcasing plenty of Canadian artists on the Panamania stage — and the shows are free. Arden and Ryder are on the bill, as are Kiesza, Joel Plaskett, Tanya Tagaq and dozens more. But organizers also booked foreign acts like The Roots, The Flaming Lips and Janelle Monae. Where was the outrage over the inclusion of the Blind Boys of Alabama?
– Does anyone really believe hometown rap superstar Drake won’t be a “surprise” guest with West?
BELOW: Marianne Domain reports that despite backlash, Kanye West will perform in the Pan Am Games closing ceremony.
Tax money shouldn’t go to Kanye West
A lot of the anger expressed online is about the fact that Ontario tax dollars are being pumped in the Pan Am Games and, by extension, into West’s pockets.
“I don’t want my tax dollars going to this a**hole,” Cross wrote in his blog post. Well, sorry. West performed on July 10 at the Ottawa Bluesfest, an event that got $247,500 in Ontario tax dollars.
In fact, music events all across the province get public grants to bring in big name artists. Taxpayers gave a combined $405,000 to the Boots & Hearts festival (with U.S. headliners Brad Paisley and Florida Georgia Line) and the WayHome festival (with British singer Sam Smith and American hip hop star Kendrick Lamar). The Bud Light Digital Dreams festival, with foreign headliners like Armin Van Buren, Martin Garrix and Zedd, got $270,000 in tax money.
And, yes, last year’s OVO Fest got a $300,000 handout so Drake could bring in friends like Usher and 50 Cent.
It should also be noted that many, many more tax dollars are being spent to bring athletes from 41 countries to Toronto for the Games. Are the people who are upset about subsidizing West equally ticked off about subsidizing folks from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil?
But there’s a petition!
The media is reporting on the status of one particular anti-West petition, as if it is legally binding. Even if it gets 10 times the signatures it got in the first 24 hours, it would represent 100,000 people — or a small fraction of the nearly 14 million people in Ontario.
It is also one of several anti-West petitions currently on change.org.
A petition by Tim Westin urges Games sponsor CIBC to intervene because “Canada should be represented by a Canadian as host country.”
Susan McElwain‘s petition declares that West’s “values and ethics have been well documented in celebrity gossip magazines and can be heard in his music.” She complains: “I believe his moral and ethical compass is not aligned with values that most Canadians adhere to.”
A petition by Laurie Paquette wants West ousted because he is “a talentless performer” who “offers nothing to the Canadian people.”
Peter Zarow feels “anyone with any form of mental capacity for intelligent thought” should join his call for West to be dumped from the ceremony.
Keep in mind there are also petitions to stop GO Trains from sounding their horns in Markham; to get TEVA to bring back Zilch sandals; and to bring a Tim Horton’s franchise to Wheatley, Ont.
Kanye West is a…
Insert whatever adjective (or expletive) best reflects your opinion of the rapper.
Sure, there’s a chance he will jump on stage during a speech by Pan Am CEO Saad Rafi (“Imma let you finish but Beyonce hosted the best Pan Am Games…”) because he’s proven to be a humourless, arrogant blowhard. But one can’t help wonder if there would be the same outcry if U2 was headlining, or the Rolling Stones.
And does anyone really believe there wouldn’t be outrage if organizers booked Justin Bieber?
The controversy is almost certainly less about West’s birthplace and more about his public persona and choice of wife.
Asking why an American is headlining the closing ceremony of the Pan Am Games seems to belie the fundamental purpose of the Games — to bring 41 countries together.
At the closing ceremony of the 2011 Pan Am Games in Mexico, U.S. singer Ricky Martin headlined a show that included Canadian acts Drake and Nickelback.
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