American rapper Quavo performed to a handful of fans at a recent concert, sparking a wild conspiracy theory that his musical rivals were to blame for poor turnout.
The former member of the massive hip-hop group Migos also has a string of hit singles, but that didn’t seem to be enough to draw crowds to a headlining performance at the Hartford Medical Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut, over the weekend.
The venue has a capacity of over 5,700 spectators, but based on footage from the show, it appears only a few hundred people came to see the rapper.
Those who took the stage were crowded towards the front of the stage, while the rest of the venue was almost empty.
So what happened? Without any actual explanation, a far-fetched rumor circulated on social media that Quavo’s rival Chris Brown had bought up all the tickets to the show, leading the star to think he would be on stage to face a crowd. Large crowds of spectators.
“Chris Brown is evil about this, apparently he bought all the tickets to Quavo’s concert just to empty out the crowd,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Chris Brown bought most of the tickets to Quavo’s show. This is pure barbarism.
Many others on social media accepted the rumor as fact – although some questioned how despicable it would be to purchase thousands of tickets to a music rival’s show.
Sure, they have to deal with near-empty crowds – but you’re the one paying a fortune to buy all the tickets, and that money goes into their pockets.
Brown has yet to comment publicly on the speculation, but logically it seems unlikely that he would be blamed, especially as fans interpreted Brown’s alleged behavior as a response to the diss track Quavo, which was released three days ago.
It could just be that, despite selling millions of records both individually and as part of Migos, Quavo had trouble reselling tickets for this particular show.
And he’s in good company: Just a few weeks ago, another top American rapper, Nelly, made headlines when she performed to a nearly empty stage in Florida.
There, the story had an even greater sting. Nellie’s show was actually a free concert for students at the University of Florida. Still, only a few hundred people came to the 10,000-seat arena.
Reasons why it will make you feel old: One student who attended admitted that many students were simply unfamiliar with the ’90s rapper or his music.
