Lil Scrappy cancels show
Published Nov. 16, 2004
Lil Scrappy left his local fans crunk-less Friday night.
The College Music Committee, a subcommittee of the Department of Student Activities, had to cancel the rap artist's concert five hours before it was slated to begin Friday because of contractual problems, members of the committee said.
Lil Scrappy was scheduled to perform Friday night at Jesse Auditorium. After attempting to reach him throughout the day to confirm he would appear, committee members were able to contact the rapper at around 3 p.m. and decided to cancel the show when it was made clear Lil Scrappy would not "honor the date," said Kathy Murray, assistant director of the Department of Student Life.
College Music Committee chairman Nick Gertsema said members of the committee were unable to contact the rapper to discuss the contract until the day of the show, at which point it was too late to continue negotiations.
"This is my third year as committee chairman and I've never had this much trouble," he said. "I've never felt as if someone was avoiding my calls like I did this time. It was definitely a great learning experience."
Lil Scrappy's spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Murray said she was upset the show had to be canceled, but the department had to continue running business as usual.
"We've called him every day," she said. "When he finally looked at the contract there were contractual disputes that couldn't be resolved at 3 on the day of the show."
College Music Committee member Scott Casey said members of the committee handed out information sheets about refunds to people who showed up for the show Friday night. They also informed local radio stations that announced the cancellation of the show.
The music committee had picked Lil Scrappy to perform a day before the MO-Money Midwest Invitational Stepshow.
"They were totally separate events organized by separate committees," Murray said. "It was an event to compliment the step show and to give students and visitors to campus something to do Friday night."
Casey said before canceling the event, more than 500 tickets had been sold for the show, but the committee was expecting to sell a lot of walk-up tickets. Jesse Auditorium can hold about 1,500 people.
Gertsema said it's normal for contracts to be negotiated until the day of the show, but it's usually little things like how many cases of water to have on hand or who is supplying what technical equipment.
"Usually, an offer and verbal confirmation is enough to start publicizing the event and selling tickets and we'll continue to work out the details of the contract so it ends up just being a formality," he said. "Usually, the kinks are worked out the day of the show."
Murray said that despite problems getting in touch with Lil Scrappy, the committee decided to wait so long to cancel the show because members were holding on to the thought everything would come together and work out.
"We wanted to do the show," she said. "We gave him the benefit of the doubt because we wanted the show to work out. Had we gotten the contract three weeks ago, the show could have happened."
