It’s splitsville for R&B singers PARTYNEXTDOOR and Jeremih.
Following “multiple incidents,” promoter Live Nation has removed Jeremih as the opener from the Mississauga singer and recent NOW cover star’s Summer’s Over tour.
“Live Nation’s top priority is helping artists and performers create great shows for their fans. With this in mind, we’ve decided it’s best for the Summer’s Over Tour to continue without Jeremih, effective immediately,” the company said in a statement. “After multiple incidents we are left with no other choice. We do not support these actions or take these actions lightly.”
The move comes amid rumours of behind-the-scenes squabbling over money that reportedly prompted Jeremih to send an imposter to perform in his place at a show in Houston. (He seemingly acknowledged fan allegations of the phony Jeremih in an Instagram post.)
Before that, he abruptly cut short a show in Chicago, blaming technical difficulties.
The drama came to a head in Dallas when Jeremih complained about Party during his opening set. “PARTYNEXTDOOR and his crew are some bitch ass n*****. Now tell me that. Tell me what I said now?” he told the crowd. “Y’all better scream for PARTYNEXTDOOR now. Tell him to pay that fake-ass budget they’ve been pressing at night.”
In a tweet following the show, he also alleged that someone put pepperspray “in the atmosphere” while he was performing. “Surprisingly no blogs picked that up,” he wrote.
Although Jeremih was originally scheduled to perform with PARTYNEXTDOOR at Rebel in Toronto on November 24 and 25, he dropped off the bill due to “scheduling conflicts” three days before the gigs.
The drama does not bode well for the rumoured collaboration album, Late Night Party, that the pair have been working on.
In a November 24 cover feature, Party told NOW he has made a lot of music with Jeremih and hoped they would find time to put a project together after the tour.
When NOW asked Party – aka Jahron Braithwaite – why he wanted to tour with Jeremih, he said: “I’ve been around a lot of artists and he’s super humble… the R&B game is so competitive and even urban music in general. We have the same vibe. We’re both gifted and we’re here to make music so I said we should go on tour together. We work with the same producers and we have the same energy. I look at him like a big brother so it just naturally happened.”
The tour is due to wrap up in San Francisco on December 11. Full refunds are available for ticketholders at point of purchase.
A rep for Party referred to the Live Nation statement and had no further comment.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
