Emily Eavis responds to the criticism surrounding Kanye West’s Glastonbury Headline slot.

Kanye West was announced as the second headliner of Glastonbury Festival recently, joining Foo Fighters at the top of the bill, but some people aren’t too happy about this news. An online petition to “Cancel Kanye West’s Headline Slot and Get A Rock Band” currently has 100,000 signatures but in an article on The Guardian Emily Eavis, co-organizer of the festival, points out, “The signatories of the petition are not limited to ticket holders. From what we can see, an awful lot of them aren’t even from the UK. Even the originator of the petition admits that he has never actually been to the festival.”

She starts by saying “Every year when we announce who’s playing at Glastonbury there are complaints and often outrage. We’re well used to that. Scrutiny of our headliners has become something of a national pastime. We’ve had it in recent years with Jay Z, Beyoncé, Metallica and plenty of others. We even had it in 1984 when we booked the Smiths, because people wanted Hawkwind again! This year is no different.”

“We think the story this year should not be: “Why is Kanye coming?” but: “How amazing is it that Kanye is coming?” One of the world’s biggest superstars and a music legend, always interesting, never boring. He has agreed to play a festival where headliners get paid a fraction of their normal rate in support of Oxfam, Water Aid and Greenpeace as well as thousands of other worthy causes. We think that’s pretty great,” Emily continues.

‘I’ve realised over the years of announcing line ups that, literally, whoever you reveal will be met with some hate online. I have such faith in humanity, but believe me, some of the vitriol being thrown around this week has made me question the dark underbelly of the web. Who are those people silently shouting in disgust, throwing out threats from behind their screens? It certainly isn’t pleasant to be on the receiving end of that. I can’t even imagine how it makes Kanye feel.

I’ve seen people this week saying that Kanye shouldn’t appear because, in their opinion, he’s not a positive role model or because they think he’s too self-assured. We book our acts by choosing the best and most challenging musicians on the planet – not by applying some kind of arbitrary morality test.

But I would also remind people that this a man who made a version of a worldwide hit single which highlighted the social issues that conflict diamonds cause in west Africa. And wouldn’t you have a bit of a spring in your step if you’d won 21 Grammys?”

“Our message to the man who started the petition is that like any other ticket-holder, he is very welcome to get a refund,” concludes Emily. “But better still, come to the festival and open your mind to some wonderful music and performances from all corners of the world. Ultimately, there is no question in my mind that we have got one of the greatest artists of his generation headlining, and we have no regrets at all about booking him. I certainly can’t wait to see his performance.”

Tickets for Glastonbury 2015 have sold out, with the festival running from 26th-28th June.