With festival season in full swing after a two-year suspension because of COVID-19, people are extremely excited to be out with thousands of others hearing loud music and seeing their favorite acts on stage. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of festival season is that some acts cancel their shows before they are set to come. This leaves both the fans and the promoters hanging out to dry.

In Asia, it’s not easy to get big-name rappers to come all the way over. First-class plane tickets cost a lot of money, there is usually a crew of 10-plus people, and a lot of stars just don’t like to fly so far. So when the 2022 Jive-Super Live Festival got The Game as a headliner on their second day of the festival happening on October 15 and 16, the buzz was palpable. Tickets sold briskly as he would be joining Jay Park, pH-1, and other Korean superstars on stage.

Two weeks ago, the 2022 Jive-Super Live Festival posted a voice recording of The Game hyping up his show and urging people to buy tickets before they sell out.

Then the unthinkable happened. On October 11, The Game canceled his 30-minute set with no reasoning or excuse. The CEO of Jive Media & Co, Ltd, who puts on the Jive-Super Live Festivals, then posted his message to The Game’s management. In it, he mentions that narcotics are illegal and that his organization will not be held responsible for any violations.

The next thing that happened was The Game canceled without reason. To be fair, the message was a bit disrespectful to The Game and his crew, but all of this should have been made clear in the contract or negotiations beforehand.

Now, the 2022 Jive-Super Live Festival is without an international Hip Hop headliner a few days before the show and will probably have to put in a lot of work to get their deposit back from The Game and his management. Fans, festival-goers, promoters, and The Game all have a bad taste in their mouth because of this now.