Legal threats fly after The Game’s Australian tour scrapped

The Australian promoter of US rapper The Game’s tour, slated for this month, is talking legal threats after it was cancelled yesterday.

This followed a week of uncertainty after a bizarre post purporting to be from the rapper which claimed the tour was “a fake”.

Promoter Tour Squad has released a statement:

“Despite our best efforts to try and salvage this tour, there has been a substantial amount of conduct together with statements made by The Game’s team which showed that they had no intention, for whatever reason, to adhere to the contract executed in June 2017 for this tour.

“It is disappointing for everyone involved but we must protect the integrity of the Australian and New Zealand industry, our business name and brand, our team and our business partners and in doing so, we have to make the right call at the right time.

“Our dealings have been handed over to our Australian and US legal teams and to the relevant authorities.”

Tickets are being refunded.

According to Tour Squad’s statement, they and their lawyer Matt McCormick met with The Game’s team in Los Angeles in April.

“We were assured that The Game was committed to this tour in Australia and New Zealand, and Tour Squad was invited to put an offer in writing.

“That offer was made, the offer accepted and formal contracts were negotiated and signed by both parties.”

The tour was set to play the Melbourne Forum (September 20), Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre (22), Perth’s Metro City (23), Sydney’s Luna Park (27) and Brisbane’s Eatons Hill Hotel (29).

It was promoted as his last Australian visit before he retired from music.

But last Friday a post by The Game claimed, “This tour is FAKE. I’m not scheduled to be in Austrailia [sic] until 2018. And it will not be my last tour.”

Initially Tour Squad explained that the rapper’s Facebook had probably been hacked, advised ticket holders, “Don’t panic” and continued to promote the visit on social media and its website.

Earlier this week, reports in the New Zealand media (he’s playing in Auckland on September 25) suggested there was a great amount of confusion before the cancellation.

Its local publicist claimed it was in the dark, and directed media inquiries to the promoters.

One New Zealand newspaper was advised of the tour’s cancellation by the venue.