The festival's co-organiser Emily Eavis said the festival was "delighted" when it booked Jay-Z.
She said: "In truth, we felt honoured to have him on board and believe that he is absolutely the right act for our festival. First, we were blown away by selling 100,000 tickets on the first day of sale, especially given that it was a snowy Sunday in April. Second, Jay-Z is far from the first hip-hop artist to perform at Glastonbury, as one might assume from some strangely hysterical press reports."

She said the festival had a long history of attracting top rap artists, and insisted it was not a bid to move the festival away from traditional supporters.
"There is no reason why we should not have the greatest living hip-hop artist on at Glastonbury; in fact, he is exactly the sort of act we should have performing," she added.

She continued that feedback from Glastonbury fans is "overwhelmingly positive".