This is interesting. US telephone firm Verizon Wireless has pulled out of sponsoring the current Gwen Stefani Sweet Escape tour because of footage of her support act, Akon, recorded at an unrelated concert in Trinidad.
The footage in question, which surfaced online after being filmed at the Trinidad show, featured Akon dancing provocatively with a fifteen year old fan plucked from the audience. Fearing an outraged public response to that routine, and the PR challenges of having an association with the artist, the phone firm pulled out of the tour and also removed Akon ringtones from its mobile download platform.
Speaking to Billboard, Stefani's manager, Jim Guerinot said he was "surprised and shocked" at Verizon's decision to pull out of the tour sponsorship, a deal which could have been worth anything up to $3 million for Stefani and the tour's promoters, adding that his team were "just in the beginning stages of evaluating" the impact of Verizon's move.
Commenting on support act Akon, he added: "Akon has been a perfect gentleman on this tour. His show has at best been a PG show. Children of all ages have been attending. We have had no complaints - nothing but satisfied people. And I would say that we're shocked that Verizon would drop Gwen Stefani as part of this whole debate".