Coachella Gets The Weeknd But He Wants Kanye’s $8.5M Paycheck!

The drama at Coachella continues to play out.

Well, good news for Coachella fans, it appears The Weeknd will be the headliner with Swedish House Mafia on Sunday, but if the Music Festival doesn’t pay him Kanye’s $8.5M paycheck, he’s out!!!

CelebnMusic247.com reports that Coachella better cough up Kanye’s $8.5M paycheck to keep The Weeknd as the headliner for Sunday night.

Coachella organizers allegedly tried to stiff The Weeknd after he stepped in to replace Kanye West as Sunday headliner at the festival later this month.

We’re told the singer threatened to pull out if he wasn’t paid the same money as West, who was set to rake in $8 million plus a $500,000 production fee.

We received word via reports that The Weeknd was the front-runner to replace the “All of the Lights” rapper, who bailed on the gig less than two weeks before showtime.

Page Six reports:

Coachella organizers announced early on Wednesday that The Weeknd, 32, and house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia will be taking over the rapper’s slots on Sunday, April 17, and Sunday, April 24. But a music source told us the deal wasn’t yet done for the “Blinding Lights” singer.

The source said:

The Weeknd came in at short notice to take Kanye’s top spot. But Phil Anschutz [who owns the Coachella Festival through AEG Live] wanted to hold on to Kanye’s money and pay The Weeknd far less, just a few million. The festival would pocket the rest.

The ploy led to fraught negotiations this week between The Weeknd’s management and Anschutz’s company Goldenvoice, which produces the festival.

The source continued:

Even after Coachella announced the new lineup on Wednesday, a deal wasn’t in place for The Weeknd, who threatened to pull out at an hour’s notice if he didn’t get the same deal as Kanye.

Finally, on Wednesday — faced with the prospect of a second headline act pulling out of Coachella at the last minute — Anschutz’s company caved and agreed to pay The Weeknd the same money.

The Weeknd posted this earlier today: