Billie Eilish tells Kanye West she 'literally never said a thing' about Travis Scott after he demands apology

Billie Eilish
(Image credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images)

A comment Billie Eilish made after helping a fan now has Kanye West threatening to not show up at Coachella.

In Atlanta over the weekend, Eilish paused her show to help a fan in need of an inhaler, saying, "We're taking care of our people. I wait for people to be OK until I keep going." That remark was interpreted by some as a reference to Travis Scott and the crowd surge that left 10 people dead while he was performing at the Astroworld music festival last year, though it's worth noting that Eilish never actually mentioned Scott or Astroworld.

But that didn't stop West, who's scheduled to headline Coachella alongside Eilish, from taking to Instagram to demand she apologize to Scott and "TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES," warning "I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM" at Coachella.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In the comments, though, Eilish pointed out that she "literally never said a thing about Travis" and "was just helping a fan."

It wasn't clear whether that would be enough for West and if he'll now drop his threat to ditch Coachella, which is scheduled for April. He and Eilish are both set to headline after Scott was removed in the wake of the Astroworld tragedy. He has continued to insist he wasn't aware a mass casualty event had been declared while he was performing, and West defended Scott, saying he "DIDN'T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.