Cardi B Threatens Legal Action Against BZR WKND Organisers Over $2.5M Show Row
Cardi B and BZR WKND founder Ryan Burke are now threatening each other with lawsuits over her cancelled October headline slot at Kingston's National Stadium. Burke says she was paid US$2.5 million in full; Cardi B says she received only a US$1-million deposit, that the production money never arrived, and she is daring him to sue so she can countersue for defamation. No lawsuit has actually been filed yet on either side, and the December 20 rescheduled BZR WKND goes on without her.
(ReggaeVibeMedia.com) - The biggest fight in Jamaican entertainment right now is not happening on a stage — it is happening between lawyers, on Instagram Live, and over US$2.5 million that both sides say the other one has wrong.
BZR WKND founder and chief executive Ryan Burke told CVM Television that his company has retained counsel and will sue Cardi B, saying she was paid in full — US$2.5 million — for the headline slot at the October 16–18 show at Kingston's National Stadium, where she had been due to perform on October 18. Burke also said a December 20 makeup date did not happen, and that ticket refunds had begun.
Cardi B fired back on Instagram Live on Monday night, and her version of the money is very different. She says she received only a US$1-million deposit, and that the second half of the fee — the money needed for production — never arrived. She is daring Burke to sue so she can countersue for defamation.
Her account of the timeline goes further, according to World Music Views' report of her Instagram Live: she says a second payment for production was due September 17 and never came on time, and that a late US$750,000 was sent only after she had already decided to cancel — money she says she returned. The Observer's own report does not carry those specific figures, and the two sides' numbers do not reconcile.
What is not in dispute is that no lawsuit has actually been filed yet, on either side. Both camps are now on the record, threatening legal action in public while the December 20 rescheduled BZR WKND remains on the calendar — without Cardi B on the bill.
For the Jamaican audience, the stakes go beyond one cancelled headline set. BZR WKND was billed as a major Kingston weekend, and the dispute has become a test case for how big international bookings are handled on the island: who holds the money, what production costs are covered, and what happens when a show falls apart before the artist ever boards a plane.
Cardi B has never been shy about fighting in public, and Burke is now matching her tone. The next move belongs to the lawyers — and if either side files, this becomes the biggest entertainment legal fight Jamaica has seen this year.