William H. Kelly III
Editor-In-Chief
After learning that the Homecoming concert featuring artists Lil’ Wayne and 2Chainz was cancelled, students at Jackson State University wanted to know what went wrong.
In wake of all the uproar surrounding the cancellation, SGA President Kendall Bunch wants students to remain positive.
“We are disappointed by the cancelled concert but we are working to ensure that the remainder of Homecoming is a success for our student body,” said Bunch.
Arron Richardson, interim director of disability services/ADA, spoke with The Blue & White Flash to explain what happened.
According to Richardson, approximately 500 tickets were sold.
“We do want the JSU audience to know that in order for us to have great shows of this caliber, we need our students to get behind us and make a conscience effort in getting and buying tickets,” said Richardson.
Richardson explained that funds from the Campus Activity Board were used to pay the promoter and to also purchase 1000 tickets given to students who participated in the canned food drive.
“Jackson State has a plan in place to recoup those funds. If you take a look at our track record, all of the shows that we’ve put on the past, our artists have come and we also have had no problems with the promoter. Would I say we crossed all our T’s and dotted our I’s, I would say no, but we wanted to give students a great show and that was always the plan,” Richardson stated.
The concert confusion began approximately three weeks ago when posters advertising the event were taken off social media and other campus outlets. Rumors surfaced at that time that the concert was cancelled. The Flash then discovered an unsolicited copy of the contract with the promoter, Marcell Morton, under the door of the newsroom office. After contacting Student Affairs staff Richardson and Vivian Fuller, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, the Flash was assured that the concert would be held. Later that week, posters appeared again with the concert date moved from Friday, Oct. 28 to Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Once again however, social media rumors surfaced that the concert would not take place as scheduled. On the evening of Oct. 24, Lil Wayne posted a picture of the concert flyer with the word cancelled across it, sparking many student concerns that the concert was off. On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the day of the concert, University officials released a statement confirming the cancellation of the concert via social media.
Richardson stated: “We never wanted to cancel the concert. We understand that all of our students at Jackson State want and deserve a concert and Academic and Student Affairs wanted to give the students not only a good concert but a great concert, but unfortunately the promoter didn’t meet his end of the deal in closing the artists with payments.”
Richardson added: “Mr. Marcell Morton was not totally honest with us in the beginning but we wanted to give the students the show and the plan was to give students the show up until Monday when the artists didn’t receive the last payment. In good faith, Mr. Morton sent the artists money, so when you send artists a substantial amount of money you are intending that the rest of the money will come. If you Google search him (Morton), there are shows that did not happen but there are also shows that did happen.”
According to the contract, the promoter, Marcell Morton, who has previous and ongoing lawsuits for cancelled events and concerts, is associated with Events Experts LLC. Under the list of duties and obligations on the contract it states that Morton, “is responsible for securing the Artist and Venue. In addition, the promoter is responsible for creating, organizing, coordinating, and broadcasting and/or dissemination of all advertising materials promoting the event to the public.
The Promoter is also responsible for onsite management of the event which includes ticket sales and the handling, control, custody and keeping of said receipts/proceeds there from until their disbursement at time of Settlement.”
It also states under the Miscellaneous section that “If the Event is canceled due to circumstances not under the direct or immediate control of the Promoter, Co-Promoter shall be entitled to a full return of his services from the party or parties responsible for the Event’s cancellation…Promoter shall return Co-Promoter’s ticket purchases in full.”
Richardson stated the university is moving forward with recouping the funds given to Morton and putting a plan in place to make sure issues like this do not reoccur.
“It is our intention moving forward to make it right with the students, however that may be. We have met and we wanted to let the students know that we want to give them a great Homecoming and that’s the plan and I know sometimes when you are trying to make it right with students that whatever you are trying to do may spill over Homecoming,” said Richardson.
He added: “We want the students to know that we are here to support them, we want them to have a great Homecoming, we want the football team to win, we want a victory, and we want to end Homecoming on a good note.” Richardson ended by saying, “We will not let this happen again on our watch.”
Many students on campus expressed disappointment and embarrassment for the University regarding the concert cancellation.
Brooke Felix, a sophomore biology major from Gulfport, Miss. said, “I am highly disappointed. It is also very embarrassing to the school’s name.”
Other students stated that after receiving information just last week on Founders’ Day that the school was facing financial issues, this news was another blow to students’ already low morale.
Eddreka Gillem, a senior biology major from Leland, Miss. said, “We are just taking L after L, I was really looking forward to the concert.”
Ryun Moore, a sophomore computer science major from Jackson, Miss. said, “It is a big disappointment to the student body of JSU. We are headlining enough and this really makes us look bad.”
On Oct. 26, students were informed via email and social media that Jackson State University will give refunds to students who purchased tickets for the Homecoming concert inside the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center (AAC) on the main campus between 1-4 p.m. Students had to show proof of purchase by showing the ticket.
