By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
While the African-American community continues to fight for justice regarding the George Zimmerman verdict concerning the death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, there’s been a surge in rallies and people standing up for what’s right. When it comes to the conversation of Trayvon Martin, many critics of Trayvon’s supporters have pointed to the issues concerning the high rates of violence in Chicago as proof that there are still numerous issues regarding black on black crime that they feel should be dealt with first. Even celebrities are getting more involved in the movement as some are joining in on the boycott of Florida and attending rallies in honor of Trayvon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be some drama. According to the New York Daily News, rappers Meek Mill, French Montana, Fabolous, and “Love and Hip Hop” star Olivia are being accused of ripping of a non-profit organization dedicated to pushing non-violence.
According to the report, the artists were set to perform at a “stop the violence” concert on behalf of the Our Firefighters Children’s Foundation. The non-profit organization forked over $ 48,500 for the artists to perform at the event that was schedule to go down this Saturday. All of the artists signed a non-compete clause preventing them from performing within 30 days of the concert in a 80-mile radius. The head of the non-profit John Ruiz claims they broke the contract and all of the artists signed up to perform at a similar show (the STARFEST Music Jam) the same month. Ruiz says he had to cancel the show because ticket sales tanked and he’s upset considering the event was supposed to raise money to tackle violence.
The artists have been asked to return the money they received for a down payment. In total, Ruiz says he’s out of $120,000. Out of all the artists, Meek Mill is the only one that returned the $15,000 down payment. Fabolous’ manager blames Ruiz for the event’s cancellation and hasn’t paid the money back as of yet because he claims Fabolous never received any forms.
“Love and Hip Hop” star Rich Dollaz flat-out says Olivia isn’t forking over the $3500 she received as a down payment because he says, “You give out a deposit and you cancel the concert, you don’t get your money back. It doesn’t sound like this is our problem.”
The head of the non-profit John Ruiz is calling for the boycott of all the artists who have refused to return their deposits.
Rich Dollaz is such a crummy dude.
I can’t even say I’m surprised. At least Meek Mill gave the money back.
LOL at Olivia and Rich Dollaz’s pathetic a-ses.
Isn’t Rich Dollaz the same one that ducked and dived taking a court ordered paternity test? Yeah, I’m not surprised he’s running away from giving money back to a non profit.
Sigh this is why we can’t never get ahead. Artists are more concerned with money then doing the right thing. Sad. I do give Meek Mill some credit at least he gave the money back. As far as Olivia she should give that money back she not even hot. LHH is not doing anything for her she don’t her burn any bridges. Rich Dollaz is a terrible manager after 10+ years in the game STILL ain’t nobody checking for her. Fabolous ain’t nobody checking for him either give the money back.
*she don’t need to burn any bridges in the industry
Wow. You have to have no morals to do something like this.
I applaud Meek Mill for returning the money, but the rest of these people are cold hearted bums. This is why Fab, French Montana, Rich and Olivia won’t ever prosper. Too dirty to get ahead in life.
Cosign.
Agreed!
Grimy!
This was the money they should have used to put the community before themselves and they couldn’t even do it. That says a lot about them.
Basically. Can’t support people like that.
Olivia needed the little money she got I’m sure. She has nothing going on. Rich neither.
Now this is very dirty! How do you play a non profit organization like this and not even care?
Why are you booking crap rappers that do nothing but rap about selling drugs and poppin off firearms to a non-violence rally anyways?
He booked Olivia? Now that’s a damn shame.
And Olivia only made $3500. She needs a new career. Music isn’t her thing.
Just another reason why I don’t support these artists.
Just terrible. But I am not shocked at all. Meek Mill gets points for eventually doing the right thing though.
These rappers are going to lose fans over this.
None of these lame rappers will ever get a dime from me ever again.
I’m pretty surprised at Fab. Hopefully it’s inaccurate :-/
Everyone should have given the money back. Meek Mill is the only smart one in this situation.