Kanye West during the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards Gala in Beverly Hills in Oct. 2013.Frank Micelotta/The Associated Press
The buzz for the Pan American Games just grew considerably stronger: Kanye West will perform at the closing ceremony.
The organizing committee confirmed Wednesday the critically lauded Chicago rap legend will play Rogers Centre – known during the Games as the "Pan Am Ceremonies Venue" – on July 26.
"If this just doesn't get you excited and if you don't think there's going to be a party in Toronto on the 26th of July, then we have nothing left for you," TO2015 chief executive Saad Rafi said during a press conference Wednesday. "This is remarkable."
West will be joined in the show by Miami pop-rapper Pitbull and six-time Juno winning howler Serena Ryder, but of course there's no doubt which artist is the headliner.
A sold-out crowd of roughly 45,000 took in the Pan Am's opening ceremony – curated by Cirque du Soleil – and West's presence could provide perhaps an even more robust draw.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, tickets were still available, with seats ranging from $50 to $205. A spokesperson for the Games said there were about 15,000 tickets remaining before the announcement of West's headlining gig.
Meanwhile, eager entrepreneurs swiftly raised prices on resale sites in the hours following the news, with only a handful left under $200 and some hopeful peddlers asking as much as $1,400.
A backlash followed Wednesday's announcement, including a petition to protest the headliner.
Toronto Mayor John Tory made headlines by wishing aloud that organizers had chosen a Canadian for West's slot – but only after he was forced to concede that, until now, he'd somehow believed West to be Canadian.
In his defence, Tory pointed out: "You can't know everything."