Despite charging a high table booking fee, Cape Town club Saint Lounge said Akon was a “no-show” this week.
Saint Lounge claims that Akon “backtracked” on his promise to perform at their R1 million table bookings.
The Harrington Street venue booked the performer from 3–5 January. Saint said the singer was a “no show” on Wednesday night, the second night of his supposed performance.
Akon will perform at Saint Lounge from 3–5 January, according to an Instagram post earlier this week.
Saint Lounge again charged exorbitantly to see the performer. Table booking packages wowed patrons, who paid R350–R1000 for nightclub entry.
According to Saint, a basic table package starts at R5000 and runs all the way up to R1 million! And big spenders and “ballers,” those figures were just the “minimum spends.”
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‘WE HAVE ALWAYS DELIVERED’
In their statement posted on their social media accounts, Saint Lounge claimed that Akon had failed to show up to his performance on Tuesday 3 January. The establishment also hinted that they had been duped into believing that the star would honour the deal.
It read: “We were approached by representatives of Akon with an opportunity for us to book him. After numerous meetings, we agreed on a sum to be paid. We then paid over the amount to the representatives as per our agreement in full and on time.
“We have now noticed that there seems to be an issue that we are still trying to ascertain the facts thereof between the representatives of the artist and his management which has caused Akon to not honour the booking”.
Saint Lounge then revealed that the remainder of the “performances” had subsequently been cancelled.
It added: “We are a reputable brand that has always delivered. You, our loyal customers deserve the best and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused”.
Saint made no mention of refunds to patrons who attended the event on Tuesday.
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THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTACTED SAINT – THIS IS WHAT THEY SAID
Prior to issuing a statement on Akon’s no-show, social media users expressed their suspicions at Saint Lounge’s “false advertising” after noticing that the singer had failed to appear at the event.
I just want to hear @Akon side of this #Saint story… I know damn well he was never booked
— Boeta B (@Boeta_b_online) January 4, 2023
The South African contacted Saint Lounge via their table booking contact details and was informed that “Akon had performed last night”. The establishment also promised to send through pictures and videos of the singer’s performance via WhatsApp.