Cardi B is challenging a Jamaican concert promoter to take legal action against her following the cancellation of her scheduled festival performance.
The tension between the rapper and BZR WKND Jamaica organizer Ryan Burke intensified after Burke revealed during a Monday (Nov. 9) appearance on CVM Television that he plans to sue Cardi over her cancelled headlining performance, according to the Jamaica Star.
Cardi was initially set to perform at Kingston’s National Stadium on October 18, but her team announced on October 8 that she would no longer be appearing at the event. Speaking to fans soon after the announcement, she maintained, “Just know, it wasn’t me.”
The Am I the Drama? rapper addressed Burke’s allegations during an Instagram Live session on Monday night (Nov. 9), accusing him of misrepresenting her payment and the reasons behind her decision to withdraw from the festival.
“Let me tell you something, baby. Please, I wish on the brightest star for you to sue me … so I could really get money out of you for real because the way you got me fucked up is insane,” she said early in the livestream.
According to Cardi, she received approximately $900,000 as a deposit from an initially agreed-upon $1 million advance, representing half of her total performance fee. She explained that the next payment, intended to cover production expenses, was supposed to arrive by September 17 but never came within the agreed timeframe. Instead, a $750,000 transfer was reportedly made only after she informed the organizers that she was withdrawing from the festival.
“It would be too late for cargo to send. All the flights are extremely expensive. The hotels are extremely expensive. You only gave me a week and a half because you were supposed to send the production money,” Cardi continued. “You were trying to make me pay the production of the whole entire show. And it’s like, why am I paying the production of a whole entire show if this is a festival? … You was trying to use the verbiage, like, ‘Oh no, this is not a festival. This is a Cardi B concert.’ No, this is not a Cardi B concert. This is a festival and I’m headlining. This is two different things.”
She added that essential stage equipment was still stuck in Florida, leaving too little time to arrange flights, accommodation, and cargo transportation. Cardi said she subsequently returned the money after it arrived too late.
Burke, however, offered a different version of events during his appearance on CVM, alleging that BZR WKND’s legal representatives were seeking to recover millions of dollars after Cardi’s team failed to respond to official repayment requests.
“Cardi B received [US]$2.5 million for her performance, and that money was sent directly to her. She was paid in full,” Burke stated, according to the Jamaica Observer. Cardi disputed the claim during her Instagram Live session later that night.
“It’s one thing for you to get online and lie about me, but baby, one [place] you cannot lie is that courtroom,” Cardi said around the seven-and-a-half-minute mark of the livestream. “Take me there because now you’re lying on me, which is defamation of character, and I’m going to sue you right the fuck back.”
Cardi also challenged the organizers’ explanation for her cancelled appearance. Although the festival team had publicly offered condolences over a family bereavement, she firmly rejected suggestions that her grandfather’s death had anything to do with her withdrawal.
“The fact that you had the motherfucking audacity … for you to blame the fact that my grandfather died [as] the reason why I canceled, when it was your unprofessionalism, is insane,” she said during the livestream.
Despite her anger toward Burke, Cardi made it clear that her frustration was directed at the festival’s management, not her Jamaican fans.
“To my Jamaican people, if somebody else books me out there, I cannot wait to go out there. I cannot wait to give you a proper amazing show,” Cardi concluded. “But I promise y’all, this was beyond my control. I love y’all.”
