Cardi B Says Jamaica's Government Offered to Cover the Rest of Her Fee — and She Still Said No
Cardi B says the Jamaican government offered to cover the rest of her fee to save the Kingston show — and she turned it down. In her Monday-night Instagram Live, she said the production money arrived only eight or nine days before the concert, when costs had doubled, and that she was being asked to fund production out of her own deposit. She still loves Jamaica and says she would return if another promoter books her, while no lawsuit has been filed yet on either side.
(ReggaeVibeMedia.com) - Cardi B says the Jamaican government offered to cover the rest of her fee to save her Kingston show — and she still said no.
The claim came out of her fiery Instagram Live on Monday night, as reported by DancehallMag and ItsBizKit, and it is the newest twist in the money fight between the rapper and BZR WKND over her cancelled October headline slot at Kingston's National Stadium. "It's just too much," she said of the whole saga, turning down even a government rescue of the show.
The two sides are still miles apart on the money. BZR WKND founder and chief executive Ryan Burke told CVM Television that his company has retained counsel and will sue, saying Cardi B was paid in full — US$2.5 million — for the October 16–18 show, where she had been due to perform on October 18. Cardi B says that is not what happened: she says only a deposit of roughly US$900,000 to US$1 million ever landed in her account, and the second payment — the money meant for production — was due September 17 and never arrived on time.
Her account of the production timeline is where the new detail bites. She says the late US$750,000 only showed up eight or nine days before the concert, when cargo, flights and hotels all cost double, and her production cargo was still sitting in Miami. She says she sent that money straight back. "You was trying to make me pay for the production with my deposit money," she said — her dancers and crew are usually booked months in advance, and with BZR WKND, she says, nothing was in place close to two weeks out.
She also says the gig was sold to her as something else entirely: a festival with a full lineup, with Vybz Kartel, Spice and Keyshia Cole promised on the bill, and she would headline. Instead, she says, it started to feel like she was expected to carry production for the whole show out of her own deposit, as if it were her own concert.
The part that angered her most was not the money. When BZR WKND moved the concert to December 20, organisers publicly offered condolences to her family, and Cardi B says the promoter has pointed to her grandfather's death as the reason she pulled out. She called that disrespectful: her grandfather was passing at the time, but the real reason for the cancellation, in her words, was unprofessionalism.
She kept the people of Jamaica out of the fight. She apologised to her Jamaican fans the day after her withdrawal was confirmed, denied that weak ticket sales had anything to do with it — claiming more than 18,000 tickets had been sold — and said she loves the country and would happily return if someone else books her. "I will do a somersault. I will do a headstand. I will give it to you."
On the legal front, nothing has actually been filed yet, on either side. Cardi B has named the lawyer she says will handle it — Dina LaPolt — and she is daring Burke to sue so she can countersue for defamation. "I got the best lawyer in the game. When it comes to shows, I'm very professional," she said. "I'm going to countersue you. And babes, I promise you, you're going to lose, because I have every, every single evidence."
The December 20 rescheduled BZR WKND goes on without her, with ticket refunds under way. Every payment figure in this dispute is one side's claim — and with the government now part of the story, the next move belongs to the lawyers.