Petition against Kanye West's Pan Am Games gig passes 30K backers
'Yeezus,' tweets Toronto Mayor John Tory, poking fun at his Kanye-related gaffe
An online petition calling for rapper Kanye West to be replaced by a Canadian artist at the Pan Am Games closing ceremonies now has the support of more than 30,000 people.
The Change.org petition, launched by Allen Simans after the Chicago-born superstar was announced as the ceremony's headliner on Wednesday, says choosing West "raises several concerns among the people."
"Why was a local artist or group not chosen and supported, just as our local athletes are throughout the Games?" the petition says.
The petition suggests Drake, Walk Off The Earth, Feist, Deadmau5 or several other options to replace West. It also bears a picture of the infamous moment West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards — an incident repeatedly used to foment hostility toward West.
Many fans and athletes, however, were thrilled to hear West will be performing at the Games.
Pitbull and Serena Ryder are also set to perform at the ceremony, which takes place on July 26 at the Pan Am Dome.
Tory pokes fun at gaffe in Twitter video
Meanwhile, Mayor John Tory made light of his Wednesday blunder, when he said West was a "proud product" of Toronto's music community.
Yeezus, can't believe I didn’t know <a href="https://twitter.com/KimKardashian">@KimKardashian</a>’s husband wasn't Canadian! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Topoli?src=hash">#Topoli</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KanyeWest?src=hash">#KanyeWest</a> <a href="https://t.co/cu5GXCW8vH">https://t.co/cu5GXCW8vH</a>
—@JohnToryTo make amends for his mistake, on Thursday he released a video on Twitter of his commute, complete with a Canada hat and West's Stronger as the soundtrack.
In the video, Tory flips through a newspaper, in which he's buried the latest issue of Rolling Stone with Kardashian on the cover.
At the end of the video, Tory uses the lyrics to Stronger to help create a slogan for his work in the city.
The tweet reads, "Yeezus, can't believe I didn't know @KimKardashian's husband wasn't Canadian! #Topoli #KanyeWest," a reference to West's last album, Yeezus.