Travis Scott Owes Nearly $400,000 After Losing Cancelled Concert Lawsuit

The rapper's lawyer said the verdict was "disappointing"

By Cydney Contreras Apr 19, 2019 1:51 AMTags
Travis Scott, SNLWill Heath/NBC

Travis Scott is going to have to fork over a big chunk of change after a jury deemed him responsible for paying $382,932.79 in damages.

In a statement to TMZ, Scott's attorney said, "The jury verdict of $383k is disappointing, but far less than the seven figure demands made by the promoters. We believe the verdict will be substantially reduced or overturned in subsequent proceedings."

Over a year ago, the company PJAM LLC sued the rapper for cancelling a planned performance, two days after the birth of his daughter, Stormi Webster. At the time, the company alleged that Scott "refused to show up for the event" despite being paid an advance fee of $150,000 to perform at a Super Bowl Weekend party at Myth Live in Minnesota on February 3, 2018. Moreover, the company claims they paid Scott's agent a $10,000 booking fee and arranged for a private jet to fly the rapper to the venue.

The rapper later filed a counter-suit against the company demanding the $50,000 the artist was still owed for the gig.

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The law firm King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, LLP, who represented the artist, gave the following statement to E! News at the time, "Three wannabe promoters—Alex MartiniJefferson Agar and Patrick Johnston, and their company PJAM, contracted with Travis Scott to appear at a February 4 show under terms they had no financial ability to satisfy—even completely failing to arrange to get him to and from the event as required. In an obvious effort to shake Travis down and avoid the consequences of their breaches, they filed a spurious lawsuit while spreading specious falsehoods in the press."

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The statement continued, "Rather than suing, these so-called promoters should have apologized and taken responsibility for their inability to provide the agreed-upon transportation. Instead of pursuing a misguided attempt to spin the narrative and salvage their tattered reputation, the responsible step would have been for PJAM to pay Travis the balance of his fee and move on to their next opportunity. Travis would have preferred to resolve the failures of the promoters privately and cooperatively. Their election to go public has left Travis no option other than to seek the balance of the fees owing. "

The attorneys added, "Travis apologizes to any fans who were duped by these promoters into showing up at the cancelled show even after the promoters failed to take the steps to get Travis there."

In response to the trial's outcome and Scott's attorney's previous statement, Alex Martini, CEO of PJAM, is speaking out. "The significance of this week's verdict is clear: no matter how big of a celebrity you are, you still have to fulfill your contractual obligation. We knew from the day that Travis Scott was a no-show at our event that he was in very clear breach of contract, so we were happy to see the jury also recognize this by awarding us the maximum damages possible," Martini says in a statement to E! News. "All the lies spread by Travis Scott's lawyer, Howard King, about our company in the press and the circumstances surrounding the event have been unmasked now. We believe that Scott and his legal team owe us an apology for the severe damage caused to our names due to the comments made by their team a year ago to the media. Their attempts to muddy the waters by defaming our names and character were as ineffective as the line of defense they chose for Travis Scott in this case."

He concludes, "We hope Travis will learn from this experience and understand that all concert organizers and promoters (small or big) are an important part of the music industry, and that justice will always be served."