In the latest Cardi B Jamaica drama, the rapper went live to fire back at promoter Ryan Burke, who said on Jamaican television that he is suing her over her canceled October concert. Cardi says Burke is lying about what he paid her, says the rest of her money never came on time, and promises to countersue.
Video:
Burke, the founder and CEO of BZR WKND, told CVM Television that his company has hired lawyers and plans to take Cardi to court to recover millions of dollars. He claims she received her full performance fee for the Cardi B Jamaica concert and that her team never answered requests for a refund.
Cardi tells a very different story. She says she received her deposit first, and the second payment was supposed to cover production for the show. That money was due September 17, she said, and it never came. “You was trying to make me pay for the production with my deposit money,” she said.
She said Burke waited until the show was eight or nine days away to send the production money, when cargo, flights, and hotels all cost double. She explained that for her shows, the dancers, the production team, and everyone else involved are booked months in advance. With BZR WKND, she said, it was close to two weeks before the concert and nothing was in place.
The money only moved, she claimed, after she said she was canceling. That is when the other half, $750,000, came through, and she said she sent it right back. “Your deadline was on September, it’s already October,” she said, adding that the cargo for her production was still sitting in Miami. “You never sent me 2.5.”
Cardi also took issue with how the event was sold to her in the first place. She said she was promised a festival with a full lineup of artists. Then it started to feel like the promoter wanted her to pay for production for the entire show, as if it were her own concert. She said she let things slide for as long as she did only because the person who brought her the booking is very close to her. She also said she told that person never to connect her with a promoter like this again.
Made to order and shipped to your door.
The part that hit hardest was the promoter tying the cancellation to the death of her grandfather. When BZR WKND postponed the main concert to December 20, organizers offered condolences to Cardi and her family on the loss of a loved one. Cardi said her grandfather was passing at the time, but she called it insane for the promoter to point to that as the reason she pulled out. In her words, his unprofessionalism was the real reason.
She said she had planned to turn the trip into a getaway with her best friend Sweetness, whose birthday is October 1, ten days before her own on October 11. With her grandfather on her mind, she knew she would not be partying, but she wanted to relax because she has not had a real vacation.
Cardi also claimed the Jamaican government was willing to pay the rest of what she was owed to save the show. She turned that down too. “It’s just too much,” she said, explaining that the whole situation had turned her off.
Now she is daring Burke to follow through on the Cardi B Jamaica lawsuit. “I’m going to countersue you,” she said. “And babes, I promise you, you’re going to lose. Because I have every, every single evidence.”
Cardi’s representatives confirmed on October 8 that she would no longer headline Cardi B & Friends at the National Stadium in Kingston. That was just ten days before the show. A day later, she apologized to her Jamaican fans in a video, said “it wasn’t me,” and said contracts kept her from explaining further. She also denied that low ticket sales were behind the cancellation, claiming more than 18,000 tickets had been sold. Burke and reggae artist Gramps Morgan, who organized the event together, later moved the concert to December 20 and offered refunds. It is not yet clear whether the lawsuit has actually been filed.
Through it all, Cardi made a point of separating the people of Jamaica from the promoter. She said she loves the country and that she is ready to come if someone else books her there. “I will do a somersault. I will do a headstand. I will give it to you.”
