Glastonbury festival defends Kanye West's participation

Los Angeles: Music festival Glastonbury has defended its decision to book rapper Kanye West for its upcoming edition following demand from fans to replace him.

The festival's co-founder Emily Eavis praised West, 37, in an open letter she wrote to The Guardian.

An online petition was recently launched on Change.Org by a fan who wanted rock acts to replace West to play the festival traditionally known as a rock event. The petition has been signed by more than 100,000 supporters.

Eavis first made it clear that those acts headlining the festival were never limited to rock.

"To say that our headliners should be 'rock' is, I think, a bit silly," she said before pointing out that they had also made non-rock artists like Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles headliners in the past.

While praising West, she said, "One of the world's biggest superstars and a music legend, always interesting, never boring. He has agreed to play a festival where headliners get paid a fraction of their normal rate in support of Oxfam, Water Aid and Greenpeace as well as thousands of other worthy causes. We think that's pretty great."

Eavis also voiced her opinion on people who have signed the petition and attacked West on internet.

"I have such faith in humanity, but believe me, some of the vitriol being thrown around this week has made me question the dark underbelly of the web," she said.

"Who are those people silently shouting in disgust, throwing out threats from behind their screens? It certainly isn't pleasant to be on the receiving end of that. I can't even imagine how it makes Kanye feel," she added.