×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

iRock festival organisers dispute claims that they were informed AKA would be 'late'

Rapper AKA preforms at the BET Experience Festival. Gallo images
Rapper AKA preforms at the BET Experience Festival. Gallo images

DStv iRock festival organisers have disputed claims that they were notified that rapper AKA would be late for his performance.

AKA arrived two hours late for his performance and wanted to go on stage upon his arrival. This led to a commotion with house music DJ Black Coffee who ended up slapping AKA's road manager Tshiamo Letshwene.

The incident, captured on video shows Black Coffee in an argument with AKA's road manager Letshwene before slapping him across the face.

AKA's management put the blame on the event organisers saying they had requested them to move his performance to a later slot.

"As an Agency, it is very important for us to be professional at all times with all our stakeholders," read a statement by Vth Season Talent and Entertainment Marketing Agency.

"Three weeks ago we requested a performance time change for AKA to which the event organisers agreed and confirmed. We wanted to ensure that there was enough travel time for AKA and his band as they had another event prior to the DSTV iRock Festival and a private jet was chartered to ensure they got to Limpopo at the quickest possible time."

WATCH: Black Coffee slaps AKA’s road manager over performance schedules

iRock founder and president Rito Hlungwani disputed the claims saying there was no such communication.

The email correspondence seen by Sowetan LIVE shows that the time slots were confirmed as early as June 2016 and Hlungwani said it was also confirmed the morning of the event.

Referring to the event schedule that was put out to the public beginning of September, Hlungwani said that it served as a binding obligation because it allows the attendees to plan their day better.

He said that AKA and his management "misrepresented" the contract and the schedule by ignoring their time slots.

"The parties have a legal agreement which obligates them to perform as per information in that agreement so I think this time you can see that the schedule is misrepresented by artist because it's official," said Hlungwani.

"It was announced and everybody was happy to receive it. So how can you announce what is not official?"

Hlungwani says they will have to do a review of the contract they have because AKA is already booked for a second leg of the DStv iRock taking place in Rusternburg, North West in December.

Apology

Black Coffee has since apologised for slapping the road manager. In a video that was posted by Club Kong, the DJ can be heard saying the words "I'm sorry and I truly apologise. I'm not that dude".

 

KONG on Twitter

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.