Following his failure to show up last year for his much hyped show, Wizkid in May this year pledged to hold two free shows in Kampala as compensation to thousands of fans that had already paid for their tickets.
“I’m doing free shows in Uganda this year! 2 days free to make up for last time!” he tweeted in May, as if to console close to 25,000 fans who paid for tickets ranging from Shs30,000 to 300,000, for an aborted show, after Wizkid claimed the organizers, Face TV, duped him.
An arrest warrant was thereafter issued against him but this appears to have been a ploy by Face TV to silence the fleeced fans, as the artiste remained at large and no fan was given back a refund.
However, Face TV Uganda, the people behind his show here say the musician was just pulling the legs of his Ugandan fans and at a press conference held Tuesday at their offices, the Executive Director Peejay Boaz said that fans will have to pay again for Wizkid’s show scheduled for December.
However, there is an exception: Boaz said that fans who still have tickets for last year’s show that never was will access the show using the same tickets.
But his remarks have caused a serious protest from a big section of public that paid for Wizkid’s show last year, since majority no longer have the tickets.
“So do they (Face TV) think a person can keep a ticket to a music show for a whole year? Do they take them for land titles?” a fan who identified himself as Ronald wondered.
He said that having paid for the ticket in December last year, he had lost it. “At least if it were electronic like Bebe Cool’s tickets that can be reused, perhaps I would still be having it despite keeping it being a huge hustle. If to-date I don’t know where I even kept my Bebe Cool ticket, then what of Wizkid’s ticket that I wasn’t even sure it would work again? By the way, it was light piece of paper that would get spoiled in just weeks. These guys (Face TV) are thugs,” he ranted.
Another fan who identified himself as Peter Sseguya said that on hearing that the show had been cancelled, he was so pissed that he tore the ticket into pieces and consoled himself with Sheebah Karungi’s show which was held on the same day.
“And there are many people like me. They tore their tickets into pieces over this disappointment and blame goes to the organisers. Had they not been crooks consequently leading to the cancellation of the show, fans wouldn’t have tore these tickets. Even then, who can keep such a ticket in good condition for over a year? These are thieves. I will just go for Pallaso’s show which will be held the following day,” Sseguya wrote.
Former Big Brother housemate and Urban TV presenter, Denzel who says he had paid for a VVIP ticket (Shs300, 000) but lost it, has said that the only compensation worth the loss is by getting ‘a mention’ in one of Wizkid’s songs.
It’s close to 25,000 fans that had already paid for tickets with prices between Shs30, 000 and Shs300, 000, and the fans did not also spare Wizkid the fury.
Indeed, when he announced that he was to compensate fans with two free shows, instead of jubilating, fans were so hostile towards him, throwing all kinds of insults at him and urging him not to dare set foot in Uganda.
This hostility was further seen last month when he tweeted that he will be in Kampala in December.
“When will you understand that we are not interested in your coming to UG. Don’t u understand?” Beine Amanya reacted.
“Now You See this young boy!!!!!! We still mourning our Constitution spare us,” Annie Nalumansi.
“We moved on. Come with your own audience,” someone else commented. Indeed, majority of fans responses were negative, something that provoked Wizkid into losing his cool.
”F..k Ugandans and their insults. Show cancelled. 7th December, Cameroon get ready,” he hit back. But the already incensed fans responded by instead urging him to go to Cameroon instead of coming to Uganda.
Despite confirmation from organisers, like they did last time, his show still remains a doubt.
“Stay in Cameroon or were ever you want perform … We paying at the entry wen u on stage this time round…no faking us again,” one Jacky wrote.
