A tour which was purporting to be The Game‘s last-ever Australian tour has been cancelled, after the American rapper called it out as “fake”.
The tour, which was announced in July this year in association with Australian tour promoters Tour Squad, was set to hit Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane in September, but has now been shelved as the company deals with legal action.
In a statement, Tour Squad says, “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.”
Tour Squad says it met with The Game’s team in Los Angeles in April 2017. After the tour went on sale, the promoters say, “Thereafter came certain demands on behalf of the artist, which far exceeded any of the terms agreed to in the contact, and recently there was further conduct undertaken by The Game’s team which raised concerns as to the tour’s advancement.”
Last week, a post on The Game’s official Facebook page claimed “this tour is FAKE”.
“I’m not scheduled to be in Austrailia [sic] until 2018. And it will not be my last tour,” it read.
Another post shared yesterday read, “Again I will not be in Austrailia [sic] September 2017 as I posted last week. I will not be touring until 2018 and as of now Australia is not on the routing.
“I am not having my last and final tour as this flier states. I’ll tour until my fans tell me not too. God Bless.”
Tour Squad says it initially believed the first post was a hack, but later discovered it was by a member of The Game’s team. According to the promoters, the post “appeared to be a final attempt to hold Tour Squad to ransom and given that it was not removed the post intended to cause our brand great damage”.
The Game’s previous Australian tour was also cancelled, due to the rapper not having the correct visa. Tour Squad says that issue didn’t occur this time around.
Refunds are now being issued for the tour.
Read Tour Squad’s full statement, below.
Tour Squad Statement (13/09/17)
Dear Everyone,
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. We have taken timely steps and made decisions to limit the losses to all who have been involved and contributed to the tour. We have exhausted all available avenues and yesterday we had to take legal steps.
The Tour Squad team together with our lawyer, Matt McCormick met with The Game’s team in Los Angeles in April 2017. 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 contractual payments were made by Tour Squad and the tour went on sale to the public with successful sales. Thereafter came certain demands on behalf of the artist, which far exceeded any of the terms agreed to in the contact, and recently there was further conduct undertaken by The Game’s team which raised concerns as to the tour’s advancement.
On Friday we were made aware of a post which had appeared on The Game’s Facebook page alleging it was a “Fake Tour.” Initially, We initially thought that the post had been hacked and later discovered that the post was intentional by a member of The Game’s team, and was what appeared to be a final attempt to hold Tour Squad to ransom and given that it was not removed the post intended to cause our brand great damage. We find this behavior to be unacceptable.
The last few days have been extremely stressful for our team as we have been working hard to ensure that this is a great tour. We are aware that The Game’s last tour to Australia was also cancelled. The reason for that tour as given by the artist was that the wrong visa was held. We can confirm that this is not the case in this instance. That is about as much as we are able to disclose at this point in time. Our dealings have been handed over to our Australian and US legal teams and to the relevant authorities.
Tour Squad cannot express how deeply sorry we are for the inconvenience that has been caused to all who have purchased tickets with excitement and we are very disappointed that this it has resorted to this. Unfortunately, we cannot control the actions of others. Tickets will be refunded from the point of purchase. Additionally, for all who have been inconvenienced and purchased tickets through an authorised vendor, we are offering a unique promotion code which will allow you to purchase PRE-SALE tickets for any future Tour Squad tour with a further 20% discount during the pre-sale period for all of our future shows. To claim your life membership, go to: bit.do/toursquadmembers
The team at Tour Squad are here for the long term, not the short term. We are not backing down from the truth, nor are we backing down from a fight to protect the integrity of our team, our company, our brand or our partners. Tour Squad thanks all Australian and New Zealand venues, ticketing vendors, third-party promoters, promoter teams, partners, investors, support artists, national and international consultants and legal teams who have stood by our side throughout this ordeal. We will forever be humbled by the amazing group of genuine individuals who never questioned their support for us.
