Mariah Carey is suing the Asia-based promoters who cancelled a show she was due to play in Hong Kong on 28 Oct. Promoter ONE Group cancelled the show just two days before it was due to take place, and Carey's lawsuit says the company "breached its contractual obligations" in doing so, and therefore owes the singer unpaid fees and reimbursements for expenses. The suit adds that Carey was "greatly looking forward" to the show, while her LA lawyer told reporters: "Regretfully, Ms Carey's production company has been forced to bring legal action to vindicate its rights".
While it is Carey herself launching legal proceedings, the dispute here actually seems to be between Carey's management firm Handprint Entertainment and the Hong Kong promoters, with both blaming the other for the gig cancellation. ONE says that while poor ticket sales played a role in its decision, it was ultimately last minute "wholly unreasonable" demands made by Handprint that forced them to axe the concert. But, at the time, Handprint blamed ONE for failing to pay outstanding production and artists' fees.
Responding to the lawsuit, the boss of ONE said he was glad of the opportunity to settle this dispute in court. He told reporters: "We received no reply to get our money back and we would love for the matter to go to court and the facts [to] come out and clearly she had savings by not coming. We would not presume to tell the court an outcome. This is a matter for the court, not arrogant assumptions... ONE Group is confident that we would prevail and they would be ordered to return money paid".