Photo Credit: Diwang Valdez for Rolling Stone
Rapper 21 Savage might be in the clear as far as him no longer facing immediate deportation, but his legal troubles haven’t stopped. A case from 2016 just resurfaced where he showed up to the venue for a performance and then refused to perform after already receiving money and the promoter hasn’t forgotten about it. Sadaetirs Kent Smith gave him $16,500 in September 2016 and not only did Savage not perform, he never paid the money back. The following month, Kent filed for a felony warrant against him for theft by deception. The D.A.’s office through that out saying it was a civil matter so here we are in 2019 with him reintroducing this case as just that, a civil one.
While it isn’t clear why this promoter chose to wait an entire 2+ years to go after this case again, they likely just moved it to the back burner but now that they see he could be deported and they may never see that money, this is as good of a time as any to work out whatever issues you have with the rapper now. And just why did all of this happen? When he was scheduled to perform in 2016, he showed up, looked at the stage and wanted the woman performing before him to get off. She refused to do so and in turn, he bailed. The entire ordeal was said to be extremely stressful for the promoter which explains the $1 million price tag of what he’s suing for, citing emotional distress. Some might look at that and laugh but if your reputation is based on the events you put on and you have an artist that everyone can see who in front of everyone storms out refusing to perform, that is a direct hit at your name, your brand and by extension your pockets.
In better Savage news, he just offered 150 jobs to at risk youth. It’s called the 21 Savage Bank Account Campaign and he’s said about the program, “I want to help kids with a background similar to mine to get smart about their money.” Partnering with the nonprofits Get Schooled and Juma, will consist of assisting concessions stands at sports and entertainment venues across the U.S. They’ll receive job training and more importantly will have connections to other educational and career opportunities. That way they won’t be trapped into blue collar work.
