Drake sued for £122,000 over cancelled Chicago gigs

Rapper involved in legal dispute over concert row

Drake is being sued by a concert promoter who alleges he was swindled out of $200,000 (£122,563).

As Spin reports, Status Entertainment have filed a lawsuit claiming that the rapper and his OVO touring company cancelled two already scheduled shows, tried to raise the set price which they had already agreed upon, and also used some of the money to fund a separate event.

In the lawsuit, which cites lengthy email exchanges between OVO and Status, the promoter claims that they agreed a show to take place in March 2012 at a cost of $250,000 (£153,200).

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Status then allege that the cancel was subsequently cancelled and, although OVO initially agreed to return the $100,000 (£61,280) they’d already been paid, they subsequently revealed it had been spent on a different event. They also claim that in June of that year, Drake went on to play another gig in Chicago at a bigger venue with a different promoter, which would have created gross profits of between $350,000 and $1m (£214,486 – £612,798) for another promotions company.

The lawsuit then alleges that they made a second agreement with Drake and OVO for another gig to take place in October 2012. Status claim they paid just over $100,000 for the rescheduled show, but were later told that “We changed the price because our value went up”, due to Drake’s increase in popularity. Status asked for their money to be returned and OVO initially agreed they would provide a return but, according to a suit, they ignored “e-mail, text message, and phone calls” from a lawyer about reimbursing the fee.

Status are now asking for their $202,800 to be paid back to them and have sued for charges including breach of contract, unjust enrichment fraud and violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. They are also demanding court costs and interest be paid to them, as well as a fee for “disgorgement of profits” – the money they would have made if the shows had gone ahead – to be decided by a judge.

Drake released his ‘Nothing Was The Same’ album in September of this year, with the record debuting at Number Two on the UK’s Official Albums Chart – Drake’s highest position yet in the UK. He is set to tour the UK in 2014, when he will play the following shows:

Manchester Phones 4u Arena (March 11/12, 2014)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (14)
Glasgow The Hydro (15)
Nottingham Capital FM Arena (16)
Birmingham NIA (20/21)
Liverpool Echo Arena (22)
London O2 Arena (24/25/26)

To check the availability of Drake tickets and get all the latest listings, head to NME.COM/tickets.

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