Earlier in the week Cape Town nightclub Saint Champagne Bar and Lounge announced through its social media pages that it’d be playing host to Senegalese-American singer Akon from Tuesday, January 3, to Thursday January 5.
One problem: Akon didn’t pitch.
Rumours of Akon’s apparent no-show began circulating Wednesday morning as observant onlookers noticed that he was nowhere to be seen on Saint’s social media pages on Tuesday night and he hadn’t shared anything about the performance on his own social media platforms.
The 49 year old’s no-show was confirmed through a statement by Saint on Wednesday afternoon.
“We were approached by representatives of Akon with an opportunity for us to book him,” the statement read. “After numerous meetings, we agreed on a sum to be paid.”
According to the statement, Saint then paid over the agreed amount to the representatives “in full and on time”, as per the agreement. However, Akon did not appear at the club as planned.
“We have now noticed that there seems to be an issue that we are still trying to ascertain the facts thereof, between the representatives of the artist and his management, which has caused Akon to not honour the booking,” it read.
Saint also confirmed that Akon will no longer be appearing at Saint on any other upcoming night as previously advertised before apologising for any inconvenience caused.
“Our brand promise is to make sure that we offer high-value entertainment. We are open tonight, every other night and shall continue to operate as per normal.”
You may remember Saint as the club that went viral last week when it revealed that minimum spend on its premium table on New Year's Eve was a whopping R1 million.
Upon announcing Akon’s performance on Monday, the Cape Town nightspot revealed that it’d once again be charging those very same fees throughout this week.