previous/bbafedcaeecccaabd

Travis Scott Sued for Ruining Coachella Valley Music Festival, Accused of Stealing $200,000

Home / The Law / Travis Scott Sued for Ruining Coachella Valley Music Festival, Accused of Stealing $200,000

By TheBlast Staff on January 5, 2019 at 7:55 AM PST

Travis Scott has been accused of bailing on a popular music festival in the California desert and causing the whole thing to be canceled, and now the organizers are accusing the hip-hop star of stealing over $200,000.

Empire Music Ventures filed a lawsuit against the Astroworld rapper Friday for fraud and breach of contract.

According to the documents, obtained by The Blast, Scott entered into a contract to perform at the 2019 Rhythm, Wine & Brews Experience, held on the Empire Polo Grounds, the same place as the famous Coachella music festival.

Scott was to be paid $400,000 for a 75 minute performance, which was to take place on March 2, and the rapper was given a deposit of $217,500.

Article continues below advertisement

Empire Music Ventures claim they struck the deal with Scott and the manager of his company, called The Odd Group, on November 7, 2018. They claim that after the deposit was paid on December 3rd, Scott's people called and canceled the performance with no explanation.

The organizers were left hanging in the wind, and were forced to pull the plug on the entire festival. The same day they claim to have paid Scott over $200,000, they released a message that "Due to a last minute cancellation by our festival headliner, we have no other choice than to cancel the 2019 Rhythm, Wine & Brews Experience."

They had not named Scott as the artist allegedly responsible for ruining the entire festival, and up until now his involvement was unknown.

Article continues below advertisement

Empire Music Ventures makes it very clear in their lawsuit by claiming in bold and underlined text, "Defendants have stolen Plaintiff's money," adding Scott and his manager "refuse to return the money ... each of them have kept it, and wrongfully converted it to their own use. They have stolen 217,500.00."

Scott had not given a reason for bailing on the festival, but upon reading the language in his contract, it was listed that he could not "contract or advertise any other performance within a 120-mile radius for 90 days before or 30 days after March 2."

Scott has not announced if he will jump on stage with Ariana Grande or Tame Impala, but if he is secretly planning to attend Coachella it's possible the language in the contract limited his ability to participate.

Article continues below advertisement

He has a big history at the festival with a performance in 2017, as well as being the place where he first met baby mama Kylie Jenner.

Reps for Travis Scott were unable to be reached for comment.

!instagram-embed(https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq8VKrSHnRP/)

Article continues below advertisement