Nicki Minaj is at the centre of a deeply weird mini-scandal in China, after flying out for a Shanghai music festival that may or may not have been a scam.
Here’s what we know: the festival advertised itself as an authorised spinoff of Djakarta Warehouse Project, an Indonesian event being headlined by The Weeknd in Bali in a couple of weeks.
Tickets were being sold, and the DWP China website still had its “Coming Soon” message up as late as November 7th, according to local site Smart Shanghai.
But DWP disavowed the event, then apparently endorsed it last-minute on its official Weibo, but now also seems to have taken over the DWP China site with a message saying the Shanghai event was “an unauthorized use of the DWP trademark.”
“DWP, as a brand, has no association with the event.”
Somehow, no red flags were raised for Minaj’s team. She flew to China, and got as far as going to the venue on Sunday night. But then more than two hours after the last act finished, fans were told there were problems with the event’s sound, and she wouldn’t be performing.
https://www.twitter.com/TurntMinaj/status/1064159884407492608
According to Time Out Shanghai, there was a crowd of just 1000 people there.
Time Out also provided an English translation of the promoter’s statement, which said that Minaj was late and then simply refused to take the stage:
After Ms. Minaj’s arrival, despite fans’ requests and event organisers’ two-hour negotiations, Ms. Minaj refused to perform without providing a plausible reason. Eventually, her manager went on stage and declared unilaterally the premature end of the whole performance. We strongly criticise their behaviour and we would like to apologise to our audience.
Other big-name acts on the bill including DJ Snake (who didn’t perform) and Luis Fonsi (who did).
Minaj posed for photos at the airport with a few fans, and posted a not-at-all-shady video, promising China’s Barbz (the name for her fanbase) that she will “be back with a better partner”.
.@NICKIMINAJ has a message for the China fans! https://t.co/QwF71EFk9P
— Nicki Minaj News (@NickiReignsCom) November 18, 2018
#ChinalovesNicki As a Barbz from China, I will unconditionally support Nicki’s decision! The sponsors should be responsable for mistakes they made. And I’ll lead our Chinese fans to negotiate with the sponsors. Chinese barbz love you❤️. @NICKIMINAJ #Nickiminaj #NickiMinajChina pic.twitter.com/XLYDIZ7evs
— Barbz D (@MadsLil) November 19, 2018
It’s not quite the full-scale disaster of Fyre Festival, and the internet is already buzzing with a lot of unconfirmed rumour (and shade from the Cardi side of 2018’s biggest hip hop beef).
But someone was definitely scamming someone. Sadly, it seems like it’s mostly the fans who are out of pocket.