Michael Eavis has said that Prince became “really upset” with Glastonbury organisers over what he describes as “social media rumours”.

The US singer was linked to the headline slot on the Saturday of this year’s festival which was eventually taken by Metallica. Speaking to The Guardian, Eavis confirms that he was in discussions with Prince but that the singer became upset during negotiations as he felt that the festival was using his name to advertise itself.

Speaking about Prince, Eavis said: “We wanted him to play, and it got to the point where his people were talking to us about him doing it, but before he confirmed he got really upset because he thought we had advertised that he was playing. We hadn’t, but with social media, rumours get everywhere, and one of those rumours was that Prince was coming. So he didn’t want to do it in the end.”

Eavis went on to say that online rumours are of no benefit to the festival in terms of ticket sales. “All the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing really doesn’t help us. People think we’ve advertised them early, but there’d be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts.”

Meanwhile, tabloid reports out today (June 23) suggest that Prince could still make an appearance at Worthy Farm over the weekend. A source told The Sun: “Prince wants to show up somewhere as a surprise. He has spent so much time in the UK lately, he’d love to do an impromptu set.” Speaking to NME recently, however, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said, categorically, “Prince is not coming”.

Glastonbury-bound Prince fans may get to hear one of his songs via an unlikely source – Metallica. The same unnamed source states that the band may make a nod to news reports surrounding their headline set in the same way Jay Z did when he played Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ in 2008. “There was the suggestion of them covering Prince, reminiscent of when Jay-Z came on to ‘Wonderwall’, but it got a firm ‘No’, mostly from singer James Hetfield,” said the source.

A spokesperson for Metallica declined to comment on the tabloid reports.