Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej has called out Trevor Noah in a lengthy post on social media over his cancelled Bengaluru show.
On 27 September, the comedian was forced to cancel his show in the southern city of Bengaluru after technical issues left audience members unable to hear the comedian on stage.
Noah insisted this “has never happened before” in a post on X and apologised for the “inconvenience and the disappointment” caused to his fans.
His show scheduled on the 28 September was also cancelled.
In a recent post on X, the South African comedian thanked his fans for attending shows in Delhi and Mumbai and said he’d be “back and next time we’ll make sure it’s the best show ever”.
But Kej was not convinced by Noah’s post and instead blamed the comedian for the cancellation in Bengaluru.
Kej said that every “responsible and caring artist” does a thorough “soundcheck” and “venue recce” before a show, although he did acknowledge “there were many Event Management related problems” in the show.
“If Trevor Noah really bothered about his ticket purchasing fans, then he would have made it a point to arrive earlier in the day (or previous night) and personally carried out a reconnaissance of the venue, tested out his microphone and ensured that the sound was optimum.
“I am sure he does that at other prestigious venues all over the world, and I am shocked to realize he did not bother to do this in Bengaluru. This is the artist’s responsibility. Every artist/comedian/band has personal sound requirements and preferences ... and to just show up for the event, without even checking your sound is hugely irresponsible,” he wrote.
Kej said fans were “punished” due to the cancellation as many paid and “travelled” to experience the show.
Speaking on events in Bengaluru, the musician mentioned other artists and their “super successful events” because they “worked with everyone involved to deliver a spectacular concert”.
He continued: “When Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Metallica, Symphony Orchestras, Russel Peters, etc have had super successful events in Bengaluru, why is Bengaluru being trashed now?”
Kej pointed out that Greek composer and artist Yanni performed in the same venue in 2014 and “the sound and experience was fantastic, because Yanni worked with everyone involved to deliver a spectacular concert.”
He then proceeded to say Yanni “cared about his fans”.
“Trevor also attributed this incident to ‘India’ as a whole, which is in very bad taste. This is definitely a case of terrible event management, but more importantly a very complacent and irresponsible artist with a complete disregard for his paying fans (and India).. who blames everyone and everything but himself,” Kej said.
Wrapping up his tour around India, Noah shared an Instagram post summing up his trip to the country.
In his goodbye post, he said: “What an experience it was coming and performing in your country for the first time. Thank you for sharing your rich history, your delicious cuisine and your fantastic arguments with me. Thank you to everyone who came out to the shows in Delhi and Mumbai because vou made it truly unforgettable. Bangalore, our story isn’t done, I’ll be back and next time we’ll make sure it’s the best show ever.”
