There’s a Petition To Stop Kanye West From Performing at the Pan Am Games

Earlier this week, it was announced that Kanye West would headline the closing ceremonies at the 17th Pan Am Games in Toronto. Slated for July 26 (and backed by the Toronto mayor's bizarre belief that West was from his city), his set would come after turns from Pitbull and Serena Ryder, and would be his second performance in Ontario this summer, after Ottawa's Bluesfest. Unfortunately, as so often happens with scheduled Kanye West shows, there's an online push to stop it. A petition on Change.org argues that the Chicago super star should be swapped out for a Canadian-bred artist. While that seems like reasoning more sound than that displayed by the Glastonbury petitioners, a quick glance through the comment section shows outraged people who believe Kanye somehow lacks in character or sophistication. "His arrogance and comments towards the disabled goes against everything the games stand for," writes one commenter, the "comments towards the disabled" being those attributed to West in a satirical article about him.

Though his full docket of summer festival appearances suggested to some a new solo album, West has been mum about his upcoming project. Three singles--"Only One," "FourFiveSeconds," "All Day"--have been issued, all three featuring Paul McCartney in some capacity. Yet when Kanye called in to Hot 97 to discuss rumors that he had kicked a child out of a Chuck E. Cheese establishment, he suggested that he needed more time to finish his seventh solo album. His last, 2013's Yeezus, was critically acclaimed but divisive among fans for its forays into Chicago drill and house.