Flo RidaAmerican rapper Flo Rida – real name Tramar Dillard – is refusing to pay the $400,000 fine for failing to show at the Fat As Butter festival in 2011 because he doesn't feel the NSW court has any power over him.
In the Court Of Appeal today, the rapper's lawyer Nick Furlan said the NSW District Court were not able to pass judgement on him because he may not have been in the state when proceedings began 13 April last year, reports AAP.
Dillard was served by the court over Facebook, because officials could not contact him while he was in Australia for Supafest, last April and the festival's promoter Mothership Music won the case in August. In September the rapper – real name Tramar Dillard – appealed.
“My client is an American resident who lives and works in America,” Furlan said in court today.
Dillard's no-show, which also included him missing a planned performance at Mounties in Mt Prichard, was a major controversy at the time, with festival organisers claiming they had done everything in their power to get the rapper to the event – including reshuffling the timetable.
Festival organiser Brent Lean told theMusic.com.au at the time that they had worked “overtime” to get him to the Newcastle festival. "We had limousines in Sydney [to take him to Newcastle] but he wouldn't leave the hotel,” he said.
The appeal is ongoing.
