Canadians Don't Want Kanye West Performing at Pan Am Games Closing Ceremonies

Tens of thousands are protesting the decision to have Kanye West perform at the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games, an international sports competition being hosted in Toronto. The "All Day" rapper is set to perform on July 26, but many are upset that a non-Canadian musician was chosen to be showcased at the event.

The Pan Am organizing committee announced on Wednesday that Yeezus singer West will be performing, along with Pitbull and Canadian singer Serena Ryder. The backlash against the announcement came immediately and grew swiftly. A petition to replace West with someone else has nearly 48,000 signatures as of Saturday morning.

"Why was a local artist or group not chosen and supported, just as our local athletes are throughout the games?" the petition says.

The petition includes a list of Canadians that could have been chosen instead, including Drake, deadmau5, The Weeknd, Crystal Castles and Feist.

Toronto Mayor John Tory initially announced support for West, mistakenly calling him "a proud product of our music industry here," leading many to believe he mixed up West and Drake. Tory later put out a short, light-hearted video of himself listening to Kanye's "Stronger" and flipping open an issue of Rolling Stone with Kim Kardashian on the cover.

City of Toronto Councillor Norm Kelly doesn't exactly support West, but said in a tweet that "it could be worse" — if Canadian Justin Bieber were chosen instead. He also tweeted about listening to Pitbull and wondering "if we're focusing our attention on the wrong guy" to want to kick out of the ceremonies performance.

Yo, @kanyewest! FYI for when you're here: #WeTheNorth is the slogan for our @Raptors and not some sort of praise for your daughter.

— Norm Kelly (@norm) July 16, 2015

But organizers are hoping that choosing a big name like West will at least get people to pay some attention to the oft-ignored sporting event.

This is not the first time a West appearance has sparked outrage. Over 100,000 people signed a petition to kick West out when he was announced as headliner of Britain's Glastonbury Festival this spring, saying that he was not on par with their musical expectations. West performed regardless of the petition, in a highly-regarded set.