TORONTO — The controversial decision to have American rapper Kanye West headline the Pan American Games closing ceremonies in Toronto has drawn plenty of opposition and taken the focus away from the athletes.
After a smooth start to the July 10-26 competition, which many consider Toronto’s audition for landing a Summer Olympics, Pan Am Games officials have come under fire for not going with a more Canadian lineup.
TO2015 Chief Executive Saad Rafi spent the entire Q-and-A session during his news conference Thursday trying to defuse the situation.
“Let’s not forget, these are the Pan American Games, which include the Americas and the Caribbean. It’s highly appropriate to have artists from those countries of origins,” Rafi said.
Since announcing on Wednesday that Grammy-winning West would be part of a lineup including U.S. rapper Pitbull and Canadian musician Serena Ryder, a number of online petitions have popped up asking officials to reconsider.
With Toronto hosting 7,000 athletes from 41 delegations across Latin America, South America, the Caribbean and North America, many critics feel the closing ceremonies should be a celebration of Canadian talent.
But according to Rafi, many of the athletes competing at the quadrennial multisport event are excited to watch West, who is married to reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
“The tradition of closing ceremonies is that they are for the athletes,” Rafi said.
“And athletes have flooded Twitter in their appreciation for the talent that’s coming forward and, in fact, many of them have said that he’s on the playlist that they work out to.”
Organizers also refused to disclose what it cost to have the high-profile artist perform, saying instead the contract is between concert-booking company Live Nation and the artist.
While West will headline the closing ceremonies of the international event in Canada’s largest city, Rafi said in no way does this mean the rapper is representing the country.
“I don’t see how he’s representing Canada … because an international artist is singing a set in the closing ceremonies, it doesn’t mean he represents this country, this city, this region,” Rafi said.
“He’s simply coming to perform a set in the closing ceremonies that will have hundreds of performers that will be of many different origins, some sourced right here in Toronto.”