The Game Facing Legal Action After Claiming Cancelled Aussie Tour Was 'Fake'

UPDATE, 14/09/17:

The Music has obtained a copy of the letter of repudiation sent by Tour Squad's lawyers to The Game, real name Jayceon Taylor, and his manager, Cash "Wack 100" Jones, as well as its associated receipts of delivery.

According to the letter, Jones originally executed the tour agreement on behalf of Fifth Amendment Entertainment on 12 June this year, with the local company signing and returning the documents the next day. As part of the agreement, Jones warranted that he had the authority to execute such an agreement on The Game's behalf.

"Under that agreement, the parties contracted to a performance fee and guarantee," the letter says. "Our client made payments of the required binder and deposits plus additional amounts to the bank account as provided and specifically requested by Jones."

As part of the tour contract, the letter specifies that The Game "was to provide all documents required for all members of the Artist and Crew's Australian and New Zealand tour visas by 16 June 2017".

In addition, The Game was to take part in "marketing of the tour across … social media platforms on a regular and reasonable basis in the lead-up to the tour". Such marketing was to include a video to announce the tour as well as videos for each city of the tour, posting the tour poster and maintaining biweekly posts through July and August.

However, the letter says, "Despite continued requests from our client, the required visa material had not been provided."

"In addition, the Artist has not provided any social media posts in accordance with the contractual obligations," it says.

The letter goes on to charge that the conduct allegedly demonstrated by The Game's team in the lead-up to the tour — including the social media post(s) branding the tour as "fake", among other unscrupulous behaviour — amounted to a rejection of the agreement.

"We are instructed to commence proceedings against all parties, specifically including the Artist and Mr Cash Jones personally for all loss and damage suffered as a result of this repudiation," the letter says.

"In the meantime, we hereby demand the immediate return of the full amounts paid by our client to date."

You can read the full letter at the bottom of the article.

ORIGINAL STORY

The Australian promoters behind The Game's now-axed national tour are pursuing legal action in response to the rapper's claims that the planned event was "fake".

The tour, which was due to kick off in Melbourne next week, was originally announced back in June, with no indication of discord among the ranks until earlier this month, when a post was published on The Game's Facebook page claiming that the tour was not real, as he was — according to the post — "not scheduled to be in [Australia] until 2018".

Further attacking the promoters, Tour Squad, the post also denied that the tour would be his final visit, saying the run "will not be my last tour", as it had been advertised.

The situation deepened in the early hours of yesterday morning, when The Game reiterated: "Again I will not be in [Australia] September 2017 … I will not be touring until 2018 and as of now Australia is not on the routing."

However, in an extensive statement released today, Tour Squad thoroughly and vehemently dismissed The Game's claims, maintaining that the tour was very much a real event that had been agreed upon through signed contracts.

Tour Squad said in their statement that The Game's posts about the tour being "fake" were clearly "intended to cause our brand great damage", in response to their apparent unwillingness to entertain "certain demands … which far exceeded any of the terms agreed to in the contract".

"We initially thought that the post had been hacked and later discovered that the post was intentional by a member of The Game's team, and was what appeared to be a final attempt to hold Tour Squad to ransom," they said.

Making matters worse, Tour Squad allege that "recently there was further conduct undertaken by The Game's team which raised concerns as to the tour's advancement".

Tour Squad say the unfortunate outcome has arisen "despite our best efforts to try and salvage this tour", which they explain was formalised through signed contracts delivered after the extension, and acceptance, of an offer from Tour Squad and their lawyer, Matt McCormick, in April this year.

"There has been a substantial amount of conduct together with statements made by The Game's team which showed that they had no intention, for whatever reason, to adhere to the contract executed in June 2017 for this tour," they wrote.

The Game's previous planned tour of Australia, which was due to take place last year, was also cancelled, though that was as a result of visa issues.

"We have exhausted all available avenues and yesterday we had to take legal steps," they continued, further saying, "Our dealings have been handed over to our Australian and US legal teams and to the relevant authorities."

Exactly what form those steps have taken — and the extent of damages being sought — has not been disclosed but, at any rate, Tour Squad appear to be pretty distraught about how this has all played out.

"Tour Squad cannot express how deeply sorry we are for the inconvenience that has been caused to all who have purchased tickets with excitement, and we are very disappointed that it has resorted to this," they said.

"Unfortunately, we cannot control the actions of others. Tickets will be refunded from the point of purchase. Additionally, for all who have been inconvenienced and purchased tickets through an authorised vendor, we are offering a unique promotion code which will allow you to purchase pre-sale tickets for any future Tour Squad tour with a further 20% discount during the pre-sale period."

"The team at Tour Squad are here for the long term, not the short term," they continued. "We are not backing down from the truth, nor are we backing down from a fight to protect the integrity of our team, our company, our brand or our partners."

You can read Tour Squad's full statement at their website.