Organisers of Australia's Big Day Out festival have urged fans to "stop picking on" Kanye West after the rapper left his audience waiting for nearly an hour on Sunday (22Jan12).
The hip-hop star faced boos and jeers from the crowd at the Gold Coast event after he started his set more than 45 minutes late due to heavy rain.
Soundgarden star Chris Cornell was also angry about the delay as the noise from West's show disrupted his band's set on a nearby stage.
However, festival boss Ken West has now come to the rapper's defence, insisting the downpour led to serious technical problems.
He says in a statement, "Stop picking on Kanye - the technical problems that delayed his start time by 45 minutes were from rain damaging our equipment.
"The fact that he had the biggest crowd of the day and delivered an incredible performance with the huge crowd staying to the end of set even though it was 45 minutes later than scheduled is a testament to what a great artist he is."