"I Respect Glastonbury But Want To Help Smaller Festivals Rise Up" Says Wiley Following Twitter Rant
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Written by Elliott Batte
Godfather of grime Wiley has claimed that he respects the Glastonbury Festival organisers - but doesn’t regret cancelling his set, following his rather unhappy Twitter outburst after he arrived at the event.
The rapper had the music world in stitches with his seriously pissed off tweets a couple of weeks ago, after he kicked up a hell of a storm because he basically couldn’t be bothered to perform at Glastonbury.
Posting messages such as ‘fuck them and their farm’, ‘please cancel me’, and ‘fuck a rainy festival in the West Country’ - as well as asking god to ‘strike down’ his manager John Woolf - it looked as though Wiley had well and truly removed himself from Glasto chief Michael Eavis’ Christmas card list.
But now, he’s taken to the Global Gathering radio show (via Contact Music) to (kind of) clear up any bad blood between the two parties, claiming that he simply wants to ‘help other festivals rise up’.
“I've told Glastonbury I respect the man [Michael Eavis], I respect the amount of money they earn, I respect they give it to charity ... but my point is that Glastonbury is meant to be the biggest festival in the world and charge £220 a ticket - and there's loads of elements in that place about just making lots of money instead of being the best festival in the world.
“I just wanted the world to know that - I don't want to upset Glastonbury. I want them to win - I'm saying they're not the only festival on the earth. That is just the point I was trying to make ... I'm getting a bit older, maybe it's someone else's day.”
Continuing on about his own cancellation, he explained:
“I turned round to Glastonbury and said no. Not that we should be playing tit for tat... but the fact I can get to a place where I can say 'You know what I'm not going to do Glastonbury, I'm going to help the other festivals rise up. Once you play the game for a certain amount of time you're in the loop and you can't be ignorant and arrogant cause they'll kick you out of the loop.”
What do you think of the comments - has Wiley justified his Glasto tweet hissy-fit? Leave us a comment in the box underneath!
You can catch Wiley performing live at Global Gathering (click here for tickets) later this month, as well as on his UK tour - if you’re a fan, check the dates and links below to find Wiley tickets through Stereoboard.
Sat September 7th 2013 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sun September 8th 2013 - MANCHESTER Academy
Tue September 10th 2013 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Fri September 13th 2013 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Sat September 14th 2013 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Mon September 16th 2013 - BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy Bournemouth
Tue September 17th 2013 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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