Rapper Rick Ross sued over canceled North Carolina concerts

The rapper refused to perform two North Carolina shows and instead went to Florida, an event organizer claims.CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) — A tour organizer filed suit Tuesday against rapper Rick Ross, accusing him of breaking a contract when he decided not to perform two August concerts in North Carolina.Tour organizer Omega14 Incorporated sued William Leonard Roberts II — known by the stage name Rick Ross — along with his touring company and his Maybach Music label in Charlotte court. The rapper and his companies failed to reimburse Omega14, the company claims, and canceled concerts last-minute to perform elsewhere.Ross scheduled concerts in Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina, as the final stops for the Port of Miami 20th Anniversary Orchestra Tour. The tour organizer claims Ross agreed to perform for at least an hour at each stop.Omega14 says the contract left room for cancellation only in cases of “severe injury or death.” The tour organizer insists Ross and his tour companies have failed to reimburse it for booking venues, managing the production and orchestra, and for staffing, travel, lodging, advertising and ticket management.The defendants canceled the stops after “substantial” expenses had already been incurred, and tickets had been sold, Omega14 says.The company claims it was approached by Tawanda Roberts, manager of Maybach — and sister of Rick Ross — around 1 p.m. on the day of the Greensboro concert, and told that Ross “refused to perform” for his Greensboro stop, or the Charlotte concert the next day.The Charlotte show was near capacity, and the Greensboro show also had “substantial” general admission and VIP tickets sold, the organizer said.The defendants didn’t give a valid reason or emergency to justify the cancellation, Omega14 said, leaving the company out over $261,000 in expenses and lost profits. Ross performed other shows in Orlando and Miami Beach the same days he had agreed to perform the North Carolina concerts, the organizer said, which is “inconsistent with an inability to perform caused by severe injury or illness.”Ross and his companies also waited until the last minute to notify the organizer that the concert would not go on, it said.“Rick Ross and defendants engaged in conduct that was unethical, unscrupulous, and substantially injurious to consumers and businesses including but not limited to plaintiff, the numerous orchestral musicians, choir members and venue operators,” Omega14 said in its complaint.Roberts did not reply to a request for comment about the lawsuit.Ross, who released his debut album “Port of Miami” in 2006, has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and was a lead member in the hip-hop group Triple C’s.He came under fire over the weekend after his ex-girlfriend Jazzma Kendrick accused him of being physically abusive, saying on Instagram stories that he once left her with a busted lip and that he saw her as a “punching bag.”“I don’t know a lot of things, but I do know that a man that puts his hands on me, is a man that never loved me and never will,” Kendrick said on her Instagram, in a comment superimposed over a picture of an injured lip.Ross previously was sued in 2010 by former drug kingpin “Freeway” Ricky Ross over the use of his stage name. A California judge found in the rapper’s favor in 2014, determining that he created original artistic works inspired by the convicted gangster.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads