In the run-up to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, a slew of artists and celebrities were booked for appearances billed as pre-game events. Among them was rapper Travis Scott, who entered into a contractual agreement with a local promoter called PJAM to perform a short set on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Myth Live in Maplewood, Minnesota. The hitch being: Scott had to be in Las Vegas later that night for an appearance at the Cosmopolitan Hotel’s Marquee nightclub. Scott didn’t make it to Minnesota, and according to a counter-suit filed by the rapper, who is being represented by power lawyer Howard King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, it was because PJAM failed to properly secure travel as agreed upon in a signed document.
The filing comes on the heels of PJAM’s suit against Scott (real name: Jacques Webster) for an alleged breach of contract. Shortly after Feb. 3, the company sued Scott for failing to appear at the event.
But according to Scott’s attorneys, PJAM was in breach not just for failing to provide a travel itinerary, but also for allegedly planting a story with TMZ stating that Scott would be “Working a Double Shift Super Bowl LII Weekend.” Any disclosure to the press, which was hot on Scott’s trail at the time due to the impending birth of his daughter with girlfriend Kylie Jenner (Stormi was born on Feb. 1), was explicitly forbidden in the original contract. Once the article appeared, Jefferson Agar, one of the PJAM promoters, shared a link to the story on Twitter boasting that he was “TMZ famous,” according to the suit.
The contract states that Scott was due to receive $200,000 for the gig, $50,000 of which was still owed at the time he was supposed to be “wheels up” on a private jet to Minnesota. Scott made it to his 1 a.m. gig in Vegas after making the decision to bail on Minneapolis.
Says King in a statement: “Three wannabe promoters — Alex Martini, Jefferson Agar and Patrick Johnston, and their company PJAM, contracted with Travis Scott to appear at a February 3 show under terms they had no financial ability to satisfy — even completely failing to arrange to get him to and from the event as required. In an obvious effort to shake Travis down and avoid the consequences of their breaches, they filed a spurious lawsuit while spreading specious falsehoods in the press. Rather than suing, these so-called promoters should have apologized and taken responsibility for their inability to provide the agreed-upon transportation. Instead of pursuing a misguided attempt to spin the narrative and salvage their tattered reputation, the responsible step would have been for PJAM to pay Travis the balance of his fee and move on to their next opportunity. Travis would have preferred to resolve the failures of the promoters privately and cooperatively. Their election to go public has left Travis no option other than to seek the balance of the fees owing. Travis apologizes to any fans who were duped by these promoters into showing up at the cancelled show even after the promoters failed to take the steps to get Travis there.”
As Variety previously reported, Scott recently landed new management, leaving Three Six Zero to sign with Irving Azoff and longtime associate David Stromberg.
