Scott late to Osheaga, upset fan takes legal action
A disappointed music fan is pursuing a class-action lawsuit against the organizer of Montreal’s Osheaga music festival because the performer she came to see was almost an hour-and-a-half late.
Megan Le Stum is a university student and avid fan of rapper Travis Scott. She bought a threeday pass to Osheaga expecting to see the mega-star perform Friday night, but Scott was late. Many people, including Le Stum, left the festival before he finally performed.
The class action request, filed at the Montreal courthouse on Monday, argues that Le Stum and anyone else who bought a ticket to Osheaga for Aug. 3, the day Scott performed, should be reimbursed by event organizer Evenko.
Scott is a world-famous rapper. His songs frequently top the charts on music-streaming apps like Spotify. He was scheduled to headline the Montreal festival on Friday.
Scott was scheduled to play from 9:45 p.m. to 10:55 p.m., but the festival announced on social media that he was delayed at the border. The announcement drew anger from fans online, some of whom stood for hours waiting for the rapper to arrive. Many demanded refunds.
“My feet hurt,” one festivalgoer tweeted. “I want my money back, he’s going to play like two songs,” tweeted another. Several people said that after waiting for hours they gave up and left.
According to the class action request, the crowd grew impatient and aggressive. Le Stum grew tired of waiting and left at 10:30 p.m.
Scott arrived just after 11 p.m. and performed a short, 40-minute set. The class action request says Le Stum works part time, had to save up money to buy her threeday pass to Osheaga and wouldn’t have bought tickets to the music festival if Scott was not performing. She and her friends were extremely disappointed that they didn’t get to see him take the stage.
“The crowd was euphoric to see the rapper for the last show of the day, however the spectacle didn’t start on time” the class action request reads. It argues that Evenko had a responsibility to respect the schedule of the event.
The 2018 edition of Osheaga drew sellout crowds of 45,000 people for each of its three days. Day passes to the event ranged in price from $115 to $235. Three-day passes ranged from $320 to $1,150.
If the class action lawsuit is approved by a Quebec Superior Court judge, it will likely take years to wind its way through the courts.
Evenko did not respond to a request for comment.