It all started when Eilish stopped a concert after noticing that a fan was having trouble breathing. Eilish told the crowd, “I wait for the people to be OK before I keep going”, while the fan was given an inhaler. This was considered a reference to the tragedy at Astroworld, after a human crush left 10 dead and hundreds injured. Travis Scott, who was performing at the time of the incident, has denied any wrongdoing but has been widely condemned for not doing enough to stop the violence and call for medical attention.
Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are both Grammy-winning singer-songwriters, talented businesswomen, and have both been dragged into a public feud with Kanye West at 20 years old. While Kanye interrupting Taylor at the VMAs back in 2009 has become an infamous moment of pop culture, inspiring both endless memes and the entire Reputation album, West’s treatment of Eilish shows a larger misogynistic theme.
Despite no one asking, West took to Instagram to say he will not perform at Coachella unless Eilish apologizes to Scott and the families involved. Defending his de-facto brother-in-law, West wrote “No one intended this to happen. Trav didn’t have any idea of what was happening when he was on stage and was very hurt by what happened”.
Eilish, unbothered by the threat of the boycott, replied “literally never said a thing about Travis. was just helping a fan”. Eilish wasn’t trying to start a feud with anyone, but for some reason, Kanye wanted to start one with her – and that reason is misogyny. Thousands of artists, politicians, and public figures have criticized Scott for his actions. The families themselves have accused Scott of negligence and there is a current legal battle in place over it. However, Kanye has not made comments about any of this – only a twenty-year-old singer making a throwaway comment at a concert.
Oh, how history repeats itself.