Thousands of people are attempting to ban Kanye West from playing a concert at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

This kind of protest isn’t new. It’s actually been somewhat of a trending topic in 2015. But this time, hot shots like Don Cherry are also expressing their disgust with the petition.

Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of people petitioned in attempt to get Kanye off the bill of the Glastonbury Festival, with no avail. The same thing happened for Kanye’s show at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa and again, the protest failed to make a difference.

The current petition on change.org, “Don’t have Kanye West headline the closing ceremony for the Toronto Pan American Games” is already nearing 50,000 signatures and that number goes up by about 10,000 signatures every couple of days. This brings up the question: will this petition be any different from the last two?

I really think it should be. Seeing Kanye headline something labeled ‘Bluesfest’ was a bit insulting to blues fans, but non-blues acts are nothing new to that lineup.

The Pan Am Games in Toronto are slightly different, however. Kanye closing out the games is even more offensive to Canadians, Torontonians and especially bands that are proud to be Canadian.

Kanye shouldn’t be the only artist facing scrutiny. Pitbull is also set to perform at the games and he’s not Canadian either. It seems the uproar over Kanye only started because he’s billed as the Closing Ceremonies main act – but the protest is well-warranted.

It may have to do with the fact that he’s brought worldwide attention towards himself after many questionable acts. Do you remember what Kanye did to Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Awards when she was only 19?

Now, it’s the Pan Am Games, which covers all of North America and not just Canada. As Don Cherry would agree, local artists should be showcased at the Games, not just local athletes.

It’s despicable that Kanye is performing at the Closing Ceremonies. There are uncountable, outstanding Canadian artists who wouldn’t have caused such an outrage – and all of those artists are far more deserving of the headline slot.

This story can also be found at http://thisisvinylhouse.com/kanye-west-pan-am-games/