West was the headliner at this past Sunday’s closing ceremonies, but he didn’t count on having to deal with some audio problems. In turn, the crowd didn’t count on West storming out on them prematurely.
The problems arose between his performances of Good Life and All of the Lights — which caused the rapper to, well, go all Kanye. Though reports say that the rapper’s mood up to this point was energetic, his mic issues caused him to throw the mic into the air and storm off stage abruptly. No explanation was provided for his sudden departure.
A review of the tail end of the clip of West’s performance shows the scene in question. The mic throw happens at around the 12:42 mark, leaving the crowd sounding confused, and quickly, rather upset.
While West ended his set prematurely, he was reportedly able to at least get in most of his hits for the audience.
A Change.org petition to stop West from performing at the Pan Am Games — which have drawn criticism on their own in Toronto for failing to draw the world’s top athletes and making motorists’ lives difficult — garnered 50,000 signatures, yet event organizers decided to keep West on the bill. A contention of the petition was that local artists from Toronto should have been chosen instead.
UPDATE: Official word from #TO2015 on Kanye’s mic issues: “Technical error.” #CBCPanAm #closingceremony
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 27, 2015
The CBC, in a bid to offer some closure to people expecting a full Kanye performance, tweeted that the official word on West’s abrupt exit was a technical error that caused his mic issues.
