Kanye West’s hugely anticipated headline performance at Glastonbury festival in Somerset, England was briefly interrupted Saturday when a comedian invaded the stage.
Lee Nelson, the comedian turned prankster, ran on to the Pyramid stage, wearing a white T-shirt with the words “Lee-Zus”, during the US rapper’s fourth song before being quickly wrestled off by a security guard.
“Some people were saying Kanye shouldn’t headline Glastonbury so I thought I’d give him a hand,” Nelson tweeted his 93,000 followers at 10.40pm.
Saturday was not the first high-profile prank by Nelson, whose real name is Simon Brodkin. He managed to sneak into a photograph with the England football team before last year’s World Cup in Brazil.
West, 38, attempted to continue with the song, ‘Black Skinhead’, but seconds later called a halt and restarted the performance.
The man who calls himself “the greatest living rock star on the planet” caused some controversy and his performance divided opinion among the crowd on site.
Dressed in a paint-splattered denim jacket and jeans, West launched into his raucous set with ‘Stronger’ under several rows of lights just a metre from his head.
He also did songs like ‘N***** in Paris’ and ‘Gold Digger’,
The headline slot drew tens of thousands to the Pyramid stage, having been one of the most controversial bookings in recent years. An online petition against West’s appearance garnered more than 100,000 signatories.
Rather than attacking his critics, Kim Kardashian’s husband chose instead to thank fans for turning out and let his performance speak for itself.
He closed the 90-minute set with the track ‘All Falls Down’ from his debut album The College Dropout, before declaring: “You are now watching the greatest living rock star on the planet.”
Glastonbury is a star-studded music festival held every year in England. Before West’s performance, The Voice coach Pharrell Williams impressed the audience with his set including a special encore of ‘Happy’.
Bradley Cooper, Chris Martin, Adele, fashion designer Stella McCartney and racecar driver Lewis Hamilton were some of the 135,000 fans spotted at the gig.
Some people were saying Kanye shouldn’t headline Glastonbury so I thought I’d give him a hand. pic.twitter.com/7KFk2kgjsM
— Lee Nelson (@RealLeeNelson) June 27, 2015
