Why Kanye West is demanding an apology from Billie Eilish ahead of Coachella

The rapper has accused Eilish of taking a dig at Travis Scott and the Astroworld tragedy during one of her shows

Kanye West is demanding Billie Eilish apologises to Travis Scott over an incident at one of her shows. AFP

Kanye West has cast doubts on his appearance at Coachella later this year unless Billie Eilish apologises to Travis Scott over comments that seemingly took a swipe at the rapper during her concert at the weekend.

During her Happier Than Ever tour performance in Atlanta on Saturday, Eilish stopped her show after noticing a fan in the crowd was distressed.

Videos from the gig show Eilish asking: “Do you need to come out, or are you OK? Are you sure?", before mouthing “I love you” to the fan.

Another video published by TMZ shows Eilish telling the audience: “I wait for people to be OK until I keep going.”

Some took Eilish’s comments to be a dig over the Astroworld tragedy in August, in which 10 people died and thousands more were injured in a crowd crush during Scott’s set.

As of late January, nearly 400 lawsuits had been filed against Scott and Live Nation.

West, who now goes by the name Ye, said he would not perform his headline set at Coachella unless Eilish apologised to Scott, who is in a relationship with his former sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner. The pair have just welcomed their second child.

“Come on Billie, we love you, please apologise to Trav and to the families of the people who lost their lives,” Ye said in an Instagram post Thursday. “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 and yes, Trav will be with me at Coachella but now I need Billie to apologise before I perform.”

Eilish has since responded to West’s comments, writing under his Instagram post: “Literally never said a thing about Travis. Was just helping a fan.”

Eilish is due to headline the Saturday night of both Coachella weekends, while Ye is set to headline on the Sunday night.

The organisers of Coachella have not commented on West’s demand.