Entertainment & Arts

Glastonbury: Emily Eavis had death threats after booking Kanye West

Kanye West Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Kanye West has recently recorded several songs with Paul McCartney

Emily Eavis says she received death threats after booking Kanye West to headline Glastonbury.

The rapper, whose hits include Stronger and Gold Digger, is set to play the Pyramid Stage on Saturday, 27 June.

More than 130,000 people have signed a petition protesting his appearance - seven years after Jay-Z became the first rapper to headline the festival.

"It was not a pleasant world we unwrapped," Eavis told the Times. "I had death threats and stuff."

She added: "It was horrible. It was just crazy."

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Michael Eavis, 79, plans to hand the reins over to Emily in the next few years

Eavis, who organises the festival with her father Michael, said she had become accustomed to her decisions being criticised - with fans expressing outrage when Metallica and The Rolling Stones were booked for the event in 2014 and 2013.

But the scrutiny surrounding West's booking was unprecedented.

"It was getting out of control. We had Time magazine, all the American news channels saying they were going to come down. This incredible onslaught worldwide.

"It was quite upsetting because we were talking about something that was so exciting and interesting and fresh and brilliant for the festival.

"Kanye West is making the most exciting music at the moment. He is an amazing force as a performer. For us getting the biggest star in the world was an amazing coup."

Eavis, who oversees the line-up of the annual music festival, acknowledged that the pressure sometimes got to her.

"The scrutiny is daily. Whatever we do is torn apart and analysed. It's hard to concentrate on the job because you can get easily distracted by the hoo-ha," she said.

This year's festival opens its doors on 24 June. The other headliners are Foo Fighters and The Who, while Florence + The Machine, Pharrell Williams, Alt-J, George Clinton, Jamie T and Motorhead are also on the diverse bill.

The BBC is to broadcast more than 30 hours of coverage from the event and, for the first time, all of its online streams will be presented in full HD.

A webcam from Somerset's Worthy Farm site is helping count down the final four weeks before the music starts.

Related Topics

More on this story

Related Internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites